RNA - "The US officials wish to wage a psychological war against the Iranian nation," Qassemi said on Tuesday.
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman reiterated that the US officials intend to cover up their crimes against the Iranian people so as to find a pretext and prepare the ground for implementing their Iranophobia project.
Qassemi's remarks came in reaction to the "deceitful" claims by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a Twitter message who said that Iran's economic growth has slowed down due to the country's presence and campaign against terrorism in the region.
"Such claims are merely a demagogue, a fiasco and misleading," Qassemi added.
He noted that campaign against terrorism in the region and safeguarding peace, stability and security of Iranian borders, which neutralize the US officials' anti-Iran plots and make them worried, is not a new policy and plan.
"Iran's economy over the past years, when the country has been on the forefront of campaign against terrorism and been a pioneer in defending human dignity while the world was suffering from ignorance, has always showed more than a 8-percent growth," Qassemi said.
"While attempting to cover up the US crimes against the Iranian and regional people, the American officials have ignored the opposition of countries as well as legal and human rights institutions to their inhuman and brutal sanctions against the Iranian people," the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman further added.
According to Fars News Agency, Pompeo’s tweet came as a second round of US sanctions is about to return in place against Iran months after Washington scrapped a 2015 multilateral deal on the Iranian nuclear program despite international objections.
The first round of the sanctions that had been lifted under the nuclear deal was re-imposed in August.
Iran has vowed resistance in the face of Washington’s economic pressure. It is now in talks with its other five partners in the deal – France, the UK, Germany, Russia and China – to help keep the international document alive and blunt the impact of the retuning US bans.
The European signatories to the accord are currently at work to protect their business links with Iran. They will soon launch a mechanism called special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the aim of sidestepping the US financial system by using an EU intermediary to handle trade with Iran.
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