The Iranian Foreign Ministry criticized the United States for imposing new sanctions related to the country’s missile program, saying the move was “devoid of any kind of legitimacy and ethical values,” the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported on Monday.
The sanctions, which the Treasury Department imposed on Sunday against 11 companies and individuals in connection with Iran’s ballistic missile program, were announced even as others were lifted and as Iran and the United States said they had reached a deal on an exchange of prisoners.
Officials in Tehran said Iran would “respond to such propaganda and disruptive measures by pursuing its legal missile program more seriously and enhance its defense and national security capabilities,” and they pointedly noted arms sales by the United States.