The US treasury added Mohammad Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic, to its sanctions list.  

In his first reaction to being added to the sanction list, Zarif tweeted: “The US' reason for designating me is that I am Iran's primary spokesperson around the world. Is the truth really that painful? It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran. Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda.”

When US Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin previously announced the sanctions against the leader of Iran and his office and several IRGC commanders, he also promised that Zarif will be sanctioned. But later it was announced that the US will not sanction Zarif for the time being to “keep the door to diplomacy open”.

The spokesperson for Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs described the sanction on Zarif as “the height of contradiction and stupidity” of American leaders and tweeted: “They say Zarif has no say in Iran’s policy and then ignorantly sanction him.”

Mousavi claimed that “Americans are very afraid of Zarif’s logic and his art of negotiation.”

Mike Pompeo, on the other hand, praised the decision to sanction Zarif, whom he called the leader’s chief apologist and said: “he’s just as complicit in the regime’s outlaw behavior as the rest of Khamenei’s mafia.”