Washington is trying to put pressure on anyone who doesn’t act in its favor, Kazem Jalali has said
Washington is trying to defame anyone who goes against its interests, Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, has said.
He spoke to RT on Saturday, a day after the US slapped new sanctions on the news channel. The US State Department has claimed RT funds “proxies” engaged in “covert influence activity” in Africa, Germany, France, and Argentina, among other places.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also claimed that RT is functioning as a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence services.
Jalali said the US is not new to waging “psychological wars.”
“The Americans have two methods. One of them is the psychological method, which is accusation. They try to accuse the media, countries, organizations, and groups, that don’t work in Washington’s interests. They try to break their dignity.”
The second is imposing sanctions. “We, the Iranians have been familiar with these methods for 45 years, and know that the Americans accuse untruthfully,” he added.
The US has had sanctions on Iran in place since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, with its blacklist now including around 5,000 Iranian individuals and entities. The measures are surpassed only by those imposed on Russia.
The US, UK, Germany, and France announced a fresh round of restrictions against Iran last week, after accusing Tehran of sending ballistic missiles to help Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Iran has denied providing Russia with weapons.
Jalali also rebuked Washington for trying to blame Russian media for meddling in the 2024 US presidential election cycle.
“The point of the media presence is to clarify events, so it’s laughable to say that a media has interfered in an issue. It’s obvious that you should report the facts about the elections, any country’s situations and any society.”
Earlier this month, US authorities announced sanctions targeting Russian media figures, including RT executives, saying that it was acting to counter “malign influence operations” conducted on American soil ahead of the November presidential vote.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described the new sanctions against RT as “xenophobia, racism, and Nazism in its purest form.” She also previously accused Washington of trampling on freedom of speech and democracy.
“The Americans are trying to defame everyone – the media, countries and groups that don’t stand for their interests. But today everyone knows this trick by the Americans. They will not be successful,” Jalali concluded.
