Al-Monitor - President Donald Trump said the United States would introduce new sanctions on Iran today in response to its downing of a US drone in the Persian Gulf. Tensions have increased to new heights after Trump claimed that he decided against a military strike as a potential response for the downed US drone. Iran claims the drone was in its territorial waters, while the United States denies this. Since exiting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018 and reimposing sanctions, the United States has been locked in a small-scale confrontation with Iran.

Both in public and behind closed doors, Iranian officials are signaling that they will not budge to the US “maximum pressure” strategy. According to Reformist parliamentarian Fatemeh Saeidi, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke to the Hope fraction parliament members about regional events. Saeidi said that Zarif was sanguine in the face of new US sanctions, as he said, “With all of our strength and ability we will stand up against the enemy’s sanctions and threats and our resistance will continue.”

Zarif also discussed the impact of sanctions during a speech in honor of the upcoming International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which is on June 26. “The implementation of sanctions and America’s unilateral actions and their entrance in the arena of war and economic terrorism against the people of Iran has become an obstacle in international cooperation, especially in the field of [combating] drugs,” Zarif said.

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