‘Iran does not take Trump’s readiness for talks seriously’
TEHRAN - Government spokesman Ali Rabiei has said that Iran does not take U.S. President Donald Trump’s readiness for talks seriously.
“Today, the United States has left no option for us but to stand against bullying and also to call on all the responsible nations in the world to accompany us,” the Mehr news agency quoted him as saying on Saturday in an article.
“It seems that the bullying United States seeks to put its knee on the neck of the world’s credible lawyers and make it hard for justice and human values breathe. This action is enough for Iran not to take Trump’s readiness to hold talks seriously,” he pointed out.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Attorney General Willian Barr, on the heels of an executive order from President Trump, announced on Thursday that the U.S. will authorize economic sanctions against members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigating alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan.
Trump signed the executive order to block the financial assets of court employees and bar them and their immediate relatives from entering the U.S.
Pompeo said, “We cannot, we will not stand by as our people are threatened by a kangaroo court.”
The International Criminal Court announced that Trump’s decision to impose sanctions on court employees is not only an attack on the court and the system of international criminal justice but on the interests of the victims of atrocities.
“These are the latest in a series of unprecedented attacks on the ICC,” the Hague-based court said in a statement.
“These attacks constitute an escalation and an unacceptable attempt to interfere with the rule of law and the Court's judicial proceedings,” said the ICC.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has attacked the U.S. sanctions on the ICC, saying the ICC was blackmailed by a “lawless gang” posing as diplomats.
“International Criminal COURT now blackmailed by lawless gang posing as diplomats,” Zarif wrote on his Twitter page on Thursday.
He added, “What else will it take for the global community to wake up & smell the consequences of appeasing the bully? And who else should the US terrorize before appeasers realize EVEN they might be next?”
Iranian presidential chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi also wrote on Saturday that the U.S. move in imposing sanctions on ICC judges and employees shows the “anti-human rights spirit” of the White House.
However, Vaezi added, the inefficiency of these sanctions “has been proved by resistance of the Iranian people”.
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