Speaking at a meeting of high-ranking judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday, Amoli Larijani pointed to Washington’s recent sanctions against Iran and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and said the US Congress has turned out to be a “sanction machine”.
“They (US officials) think they can put pressure on our nation through these measures, while they have repeated this failed experience for more than 30 years,” the cleric said.
He added that they are aware that whenever they have shown hostility toward the Iranian nation, the people showed more resistance.
The judiciary chief further described imposing sanctions against a country’s armed forces as an unwise move.
He also called on the Iranian administration and parliament to take practical measures to counteract the sanctions.
The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that would hit Iran with a fresh batch of sanctions for its ballistic missile program in a vote held Thursday morning.
The move came about two weeks after US President Donald Trump announced sanctions on the IRGC.
Speaking from the White House on October 13, Trump accused the IRGC of destabilizing the Middle East and threatening American interests in the region.
In a televised address to the nation later in the day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blasted the comments by Trump, reiterating that the Iranian nation will not surrender to such “false statements and hate speech.”