The news agency maintains that, following the voting session, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said, "The approval of the motion indicates the Iranian nation’s determination to counteract the US measures [in the region]… The Americans should be aware that their measures are against the Iranian nation, but the nation is firmly resolved to counteract the US acts."
The Iranian parliament introduced the bill as a response to the US Senate's bill targeting Russia and Iran with new sanctions, which was passed on June 15 and still awaits a vote in the US House of Representatives. On June 16, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, noted that the US Senate's decision to impose new sanctions was a clear violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal, signed by Iran, the European Union and the so-called P5+1 group — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, plus Germany — in 2015.
On Monday, the media reported that US President Donald Trump's administration was planning to impose new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program and alleged support of terrorism. According to reports, the sanctions will not be nuclear-related and therefore will not violate the JCPOA deal, which ensures the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear program in return for the gradual lifting of sanctions.
