What happened (hostile remarks ahead of a planned U.S. sanctions announcement)
The United States and Iran exchanged hostile remarks ahead of a Monday planned announcement of new U.S. economic sanctions.
The sanctions announcement is described as potentially affecting Iran and major trading partners, including China.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the imminent U.S. sanctions assert extraterritorial sovereignty (a claim that a state’s legal reach extends beyond its own territory) over every UN member state.
Esmaeil Baqaei argued that secondary sanctions (sanctions targeting third parties that trade with a sanctioned country) lack a basis in international law.
The reporting attributes remarks to U.S. President Donald Trump that Washington is “observing what happens” in the conflict and suggests Iran wants a deal but is not ready to make the right one.
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