Khamenei warns of ‘definite’ response if US renews Iran sanctions

The renewal of decade-long US sanctions on Iran would violate the nuclear agreement and would be met by a “definite” response by Tehran, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday.

“If these sanctions are extended, it will surely constitute a violation of the [nuclear deal] and they [the US] should know that the Islamic Republic will definitely react to it,” he said without elaborating.

Khamenei, who supported the 2015 deal, accused the US of “various violations” of the landmark agreement deal that required Iran to pull back from the brink of nuclear weapons capacity in exchange for an end to many of the US and European sanctions that crippled its economy.

Last week, the US House renewed the Iran Sanctions Extensions, first passed by Congress in 1996 and set to expire at the end of the year. The bill, passed by the Republican-led House, must still be passed by the Senate and signed by US President Barack Obama in order to become law.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration green-lighted the sale of more than 100 Airbus planes to Iran, the latest US license granted permission to conduct commercial activity with the Islamic Republic following the nuclear deal.

Airbus needs Treasury Department approval for the sale because at least 10 percent of the plane’s components are American-made. Hoping to replace its aging fleet of 1970s aircraft, Iran has agreed to purchase tens of billions of dollars’ worth of planes from Airbus and its American competitor, Boeing.

The proposed sale may involve the purchase and leasing of more than 200 aircraft, which could generate thousands of new jobs, according to Democrats who opposed the legislation. Republicans, however, decried the sale of aircraft to a country they say is the leading state sponsor of terrorism and has flouted United Nations resolutions by testing ballistic missiles.

The Treasury has defended the sale, saying the licenses granted to Boeing and Airbus contained “strict conditions to ensure the planes will be used exclusively for commercial passenger use and cannot be resold or transferred to a designated entity.”

But the Boeing and Airbus deals rest on precarious ground. President-elect Donald Trump has publicly threatened to re-negotiate and increase enforcement of the nuclear deal, sending jitters across Iran.