— Ismail Baghaei, Spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

— Ismail Baghaei, Spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

The announcement of new U.S. economic sanctions against Iran goes far beyond the continuation of an “unlawful economic war” against a country. This action amounts to a claim of super-international sovereignty over each of the independent member states of the United Nations.

No country can legally force foreign banks, companies, or airports—which are each exclusively under the jurisdiction of their own sovereignty—to refrain from legal trade with a third country.

Such secondary sanctions have no basis in international law. They violate the principle of sovereign equality enshrined in Article 1(a) of the United Nations Charter and are at odds with the customary prohibition of interference confirmed by the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua case. Economic pressure intended to compel a sovereign state to change its lawful policy choices is nothing short of a purely wrongful international act.

When these demands are combined with a naval blockade, which is tantamount to a military invasion, they reduce the sovereignty of all other countries to something temporary, conditional, and revocable at the will of another power. Compliance purchases no immunity or respect; it merely acknowledges that the banks, companies, and airports of a country operate only under foreign authorization.

The ultimate result is a complete erosion of sovereignty as the foundation of the intergovernmental system based on the United Nations—and a formula for a disastrous return to full-scale classical colonialism.