Iran said on Tuesday that a US decision to impose sanctions on the country's supreme leader and other top officials permanently closed the path to diplomacy between Tehran and Washington.
"Imposing useless sanctions on Iran's Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and the commander of Iran's diplomacy [Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif] is the permanent closure of the path of diplomacy," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a tweet.
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"Trump's desperate administration is destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security, he added.
US President Donald Trump targeted Khamenei and other top Iranian officials with sanctions on Monday, taking an unprecedented step to increase pressure on Iran after Tehran's downing of an unmanned American drone. The incident almost brought the two sides to a full-fledged confrontation.
Trump said the decision to target Khamenei "was going to happen anyway," although it is clear that the president's order was meant as a warning to Iran not to target American forces again.
"The supreme leader is ultimately responsible for hostile conduct of regime," Trump said, as Vice President Mike Pence stood next to him.
The sanctions against Khamenei and those around him are designed to "lock up billions of dollars in specific assets," US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said.
Also on Monday, Iranian Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi, addressing the Security Council, warned that the situation in the Persian Gulf was "very dangerous" and called talks with the US impossible in the face of the escalating sanctions.
Ravanchi called the new sanctions another indication of "US hostility" toward the Iranian people. He said the Trump administration should de-escalate tensions by stopping "its military adventurism" in the region, withdrawing its "naval armada" and moving away from "economic warfare against the Iranian people."
Acting US Ambassador Jonathan Cohen outlined the US case for blaming Iran for tanker attacks May 12 and June 13 and for shooting down the $100 million US drone in international airspace June 20. Iran denies it attacked the tankers and says the drone was in its airspace.
"Iran must understand that these attacks are unacceptable," Cohen said. "It's time for the world to join us in saying so."
Cohen reiterated that US policy "remains an economic and diplomatic effort to bring Iran back to the negotiating table." He repeated his call to meet diplomacy with diplomacy, noting that Iran dismissed it two weeks ago as "inflammatory."
Ravanchi said he agrees with UN Secretary-General António Guterres' call to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf region, but said that is up to the United States, not Iran.
He ruled out any talks with the Trump administration. "You cannot start a dialogue with someone who is threatening, who is intimidating you," he said, accusing the US of trying to destroy Iran's economy.
Ravanchi urged the UN chief to initiate "a genuine regional dialogue on regional security … so that we will see a new region for the generations to come."
The Security Council issued a statement condemning the latest attacks on oil tankers and urging all parties "to exercise maximum restraint and take measures and actions to reduce escalation and tension." The statement made no mention of the drone attack.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom issued a separate statement warning that increased tensions in the Gulf since the drone attack "risk miscalculation and conflict." The three countries called for "de-escalation and dialogue" and reiterated their support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that the US pulled out of last year.
French Ambassador François Delattre told reporters: "The message of France is we're in a time where maximum pressure only makes sense with maximum diplomacy. So that's where we must go."
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia also referred to the US desire for dialogue with Iran.
"Some of the Iranian officials recently said that you cannot have a dialogue with a knife against your throat," Nebenzia said. "What kind of dialogue [could there be] if you are introducing the worst kind of sanctions ever?"
