TEHRAN – Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Assembly of Experts and the Guardian Council, said on Wednesday the new U.S. sanctions targeting top Iranian authorities are merely a spectacle.

“The sanctions are merely a spectacle and will not have an impact on the determination of the [Iranian] people and authorities in their path toward Iran’s progress and dignity,” Jannati said, according to ISNA.

“The Islamic Republic has stood up to U.S. bullying for 40 years and will continue this path fervently,” he stated, adding, “That’s why the ignorant U.S. president imposes new sanctions every day.”

The veteran official also voiced his surprise at certain European countries that keep silent against the “ignorant measures of Trump, while they should stand up to him and follow an independent policy.”

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced new sanctions against top Iranian officials, including the office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The U.S. had already blacklisted the entire IRGC.

Trump said that the sanctions were in part a response to the shooting down of a U.S. drone on Thursday, but would have happened anyway.

MH/PA