Daijiworld Media Network - Tehran
Tehran, Aug 22: Iran on Saturday condemned the new economic sanctions imposed by the United States, warning that such measures could lead to the "complete erosion of sovereignty as the foundational basis of the UN-based inter-State system".
The remarks came after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced what he described as "the most crushing economic operation ever taken" against any country providing a lifeline to Iran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei, in a post on X, said the latest US sanctions went beyond what Tehran considers continued unlawful "economic warfare" against Iran.
"The United States' declaration of new economic sanctions on Iran is far more than continued unlawful 'economic warfare' against a single country. It is an assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent Member State of the United Nations," Baqaei said.
He argued that no country could legally compel foreign banks, companies or airports, which remain under the "exclusive jurisdiction" of their respective countries, to abandon lawful commercial relations with another state.
According to Baqaei, such secondary sanctions have no basis in international law. He said they violate the principle of sovereign equality enshrined in Article 2(1) of the UN Charter and breach the customary prohibition on intervention affirmed by the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua case.
"Economic coercion designed to force a sovereign State to alter its lawful policy choices constitutes an outright internationally wrongful act," he said.
Baqaei further warned that when such economic measures are combined with a naval blockade that amounts to "military aggression", US demands effectively reduce the sovereignty of other countries to "something provisional, conditional, and susceptible" to being revoked by another power.
"Compliance purchases no immunity or respect; it merely concedes that one's banks, enterprises, and airports operate only under a foreign licence," Baqaei added.
He stressed that the ultimate consequence of such a policy would be the erosion of sovereignty, which he described as the fundamental basis of the UN Charter.
"The end result would be the complete erosion of sovereignty as the foundational basis of the UN-based inter-State system, and a recipe for an abysmal return to full-scale classic colonialism," he added.