Ayatollah Jannati mocks US new sanctions on him

TEHRAN (defapress) – Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of Iran’s Guardian Council, reacted to the recent US sanctions against him and other members of the Council.

News ID: 80287

Date: 21 February 2020 - 12:08

“We can no longer go to America for the Christmas and withdraw and spend our money,” he said after casting his vote in the ballot box on Friday morning, making reporters laugh.

Members of the Guardian Council have no interest anywhere to be harmed by US sanctions, he said, adding that these measures show American officials are suffering from a sort of mental disorder.

Washington announced new sanctions against five members of the Guardians Council, including Ayatollah Jannati, on Thursday.

US special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, announced the sanctions a day before the 11th parliamentary elections in Iran.

The Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday that it imposed sanctions on the members of Iran's Guardian Council and its Elections Supervision Committee over the council's role in disqualifying the candidates.

The US sanctions targeted Ayatollah Jannati, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a member of Iran's Guardian Council who was formerly Iran's first Judiciary Chief, and three members of the Elections Supervisory Committee, according to Reuters.

The bans freeze any American-held assets of the officials and generally bar American citizens from doing business with them.

The Guardian Council has said that the vetting process for the candidates in the elections was solely based on law and had nothing to do with the political factions the nominees represent.

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