Tehran, Sep 5 (IANS): The spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the recent US sanctions on four Iranian citizens for what he called "fictitious" charges.

On September 3, the US Treasury Department announced it would sanction four Iranian citizens for an alleged failed plot aimed at kidnapping a US-Iranian New York-based journalist, Xinhua news agency.

"Unfortunately, incumbent US officials are following the failed policy of the previous administration," Saeed Khatibzadeh, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said on Saturday.

Khatibzadeh described the US narrative of the so-called plot as a "Hollywood scenario", saying that the supporters of sanctions in Washington thrive on the sanctions atmosphere they have created.

"Washington had better know that it has no choice but to abandon its sanctioning addiction and to use language of respect vis-a-vis Tehran," he said.

The four sanctioned Iranian citizens are senior intelligence official Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani and intelligence operatives Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi and Omid Noori.

According to the Treasury Department, the four are tasked with targeting Iranian dissidents in the US, the UK, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates.