Imam Khameni: Iran to Act If US Renews Sanctions

Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei stressed that the Islamic Republic won’t keep mum if the United States proceeded to renew the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) which expires at the end of 2016.

“So far, the current US government has committed several violations with regard to the nuclear agreement,” Ayatollah Khamenei told members of the volunteer Basij forces in Tehran on Wednesday.

“The most recent of them is the 10-year extension of the sanctions. If these sanctions are extended, it will surely constitute a violation of the JCPOA and they (the US) should know that the Islamic Republic will definitely react to it,” he added.

The US House of Representatives voted for a 10-year extension of the ISA earlier this month but to become law, the bill has to be endorsed by the Senate as well and signed by the US president.

Iranian officials have already warned that a possible extension of the ISA would breach the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — a nuclear accord with Iran under which the US, the EU and other countries undertook in 2015 not to impose new sanctions on Tehran.

Last week, the US House also passed a bill that would block the sale of commercial aircraft by Boeing and Airbus to Iran, with the Obama administration admitting that the legislation would be a violation of the nuclear pact.