Iran said Wednesday that the latest round of U.S. sanctions is an "insult" to the international order that stems from "blind hostility."
On Tuesday the U.S. imposed sanctions on businesses allegedly linked to the Basij, a volunteer wing of the Islamic republic's powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps. The businesses include several banks as well as mining, industrial and trade companies.
The U.S. has steadily restored sanctions on Iran following President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord in May. Next month the U.S. plans to impose sanctions on Iran's oil and gas industry.
Iran is already in the grip of an economic crisis and has seen sporadic protests in recent months.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday that the United States' latest economic sanctions against Iran display a disregard for the human rights of all Iranians.
"Latest U.S. sanctions violate two ICJ [International Court of Justice] orders: to not impede humanitarian trade and to not aggravate the dispute. Utter disregard for rule of law and human rights of an entire people. U.S. outlaw regime's hostility toward Iranians is heightened by an addiction to sanctions," Zarif tweeted.
"U.S. addiction to sanctions is out of control," Zarif also wrote on Twitter.
He said in the tweet that one of the banks was vital for food and medicine imports and seemed to suggest it was not close to the Basij force, without it directly.
"Iranian private bank key to food/medicine import is designated because of alleged EIGHT degrees of separation with another arbitrary target. In comparison, all humans on the planet are connected by SIX degrees of separation. You do the math," Zarif said on Twitter.
Earlier, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi railed against the "spitefulness" of the U.S. government in imposing the sanctions, calling the new sanctions "cruel and unfair."
