MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2019) Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Wednesday said that the decision of the United States to extend sanctions against Iran amounted to "economic terrorism" as it would mean deliberately targeting ordinary citizens.
Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump said he had instructed the secretary of the Treasury to "substantially increase" economic sanctions against Iran, apparently in response to Tehran's alleged involvement in the devastating drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities past weekend.
"Escalating US economic WAR on Iranians, [Trump] ordered SoT 'to substantially increase sanctions against the COUNTRY of Iran!' It's admission that US is DELIBERATELY targeting ordinary citizens: Economic Terrorism, illegal and inhuman," Zarif posted on Twitter.
On Saturday, a drone attack on Saudi Aramco forced the Saudi Arabian national oil company to shut down its Abqaiq and Khurais facilities, which resulted in more than a twofold drop of Saudi Arabia's net oil output and, consequently, a surge of oil prices worldwide. Although the responsibility was claimed by the military wing of Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, the United States has put the blame on Iran. Tehran has refuted the accusation.
