TEHRAN, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday lashed out at U.S. new sanctions against Iran.
On Thursday, the White House imposed sanctions on Iran's construction sector. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Iran's construction sector is heavily influenced by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite part of Iran's army which Washington has announced as "a terrorist group."
"Subjecting construction workers to economic terrorism only manifests maximum failure of 'maximum pressure'" of the United States against the Islamic republic, Zarif tweeted on Friday.
The Iranian foreign minister said that "the U.S. can sanction every man, woman and child but Iranians will never submit to bullying."
He urged the United States to "abandon failed policies" pertaining to the landmark 2015 multilateral nuclear deal from which U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out in May 2018.
Following the exit from the nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the United States returned the sanctions, mainly on Iran's energy and financial sectors, which had previously been removed under the deal.
As a reaction to Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA and its subsequent sanctions, and in a response to Europe's sluggishness to save Iran's interests under the deal, Iran started withdrawal from its nuclear commitments in May.
