Iran to Sanction US Individuals for 'Backing Daesh, al-Qaeda, Zionist Regime'

Tehran has almost prepared a blacklist of US individuals and entities in response to Washington's sanctions.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Iran will impose sanctions against US individuals and entities, which support the Daesh jihadist group, al-Qaeda and the Israeli government, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

"We are putting on a sanction list the name of a number of American entities and individuals involved in backing Daesh, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups as well as backing the Zionist regime in suppressing the Palestinian people. The list is almost complete and will be published and announced to the public in the near future," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

On Friday, the administration of US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions against 25 individuals and entities based in Iran, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and China for allegedly supporting Tehran's ballistic missile program after its latest medium-range ballistic missile test on January 29. The United States considers the test as a violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the UN Security Council resolution calling on Iran to refrain from nuclear-capable missile activity.

Iran's authorities said that the test did not violate JCPOA or the UN resolution and conducted another test during the drills on Saturday.