Sanctions are war itself, economic terrorism: Iran’s foreign ministry

Iran has dismissed the latest claims by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that Washington’s unilateral sanctions on Tehran are the alternative to military confrontation, saying sanctions are indeed a full-fledged war targeting civilians.

In an interview with CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the Doha Forum in Qatar published on Saturday, Mnuchin said sanctions like those on Iran are used in order to avoid potential war.

“The reason why we’re using sanctions is because they are an important alternative for world military conflicts. And I believe it’s worked,” he said, adding, “So whether it’s North Korea, whether it’s Iran or other places in the world, we take the responsibility very seriously.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday took to his Twitter account to respond to the US official’s remarks and said sanctions are “indeed the economic war and worse than that, the #EconomicTerrorism, which unfairly targets civilians especially children, the elderly & the sick.”