Iran’s foreign minister calls new UN sanctions illegal

Iran’s Foreign Minister says the Trump administration is trying to “poison the international atmosphere” with new sanctions after it reported that the country met its obligations under the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday “the international community has read this very loud and clear and continue to deal with Iran without much attention to this theatre.”

While President Donald Trump’s administration indicated Iran’s compliance, it also said Tehran would face consequences for breaching the spirit of the nuclear deal. It followed up the announcement with new, non-nuclear sanctions on Iranians on Tuesday.

Zarif called the new sanctions illegal and told several reporters at U.N. headquarters that “this unfortunately has become a bad habit for this administration.” He stressed that the International Atomic Energy Agency already verified that Iran has lived up to its nuclear commitments.