ANKARA - Iran threatened on Friday to retaliate against the US Senate's vote to extend the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) for 10 years, saying it violated last year's deal with six major powers that curbed its nuclear programme.
The ISA was first adopted in 1996 to punish investments in Iran's energy industry and deter its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The extension was passed unanimously on Thursday.
US officials said the ISA's renewal would not infringe on the nuclear agreement, under which Iran agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear work in return for the lifting of financial sanctions that harmed the country's economy.
But senior Iranian officials took odds with that view. Iran's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, who played a key role in reaching the nuclear deal, described it as a "clear violation" of the 2015 deal if implemented.
"We are closely monitoring the developments," state TV quoted Salehi as saying. "If they implement the ISA, Iran will take action accordingly."
The extension risks deepening hostilities between Iran and the United States ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who said during his election campaign that he would abandon the deal.
Iran's most powerful authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had already warned in November that an extension would be viewed in Tehran as a violation of the accord.
"Iran has shown its commitment to its international agreements, but we are also prepared for any possible scenario. We are ready to firmly protect the nation's rights under any circumstances," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said in comments reported by state news agency IRNA.
The US senate vote will be a blow for Iran's pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani and may embolden his hardline rivals ahead of Iran's 2017 presidential election.
Khamenei and his hard-line loyalists, drawn from among Islamists and Revolutionary Guards, have criticised the deal and blamed Rouhani for its failure to deliver swift improvements in living standards since lifting of sanctions in January. It was not immediately clear what form any eventual retaliation might take.
One lawmaker quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency said Iran's parliament planned to discuss a bill that would prevent the government purchasing "American products".
Meanwhile, Donald Trump's transition team is examining proposals for new non-nuclear sanctions on Iran, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing congressional sources who have been in contact with the president-elect's team. Officials with Trump's team have been in touch with fellow Republicans in Congress, where they hold the majority, to discuss possible sanctions separate from last year's Iran nuclear deal that could focus on its ballistic missile program or human rights, the sources told the FT.
"They (Trump team members) are already looking closely at their options - and that very much includes non-nuclear sanctions," a congressional official told the media outlet.
On the campaign trail, Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, vowed to tear up the agreement with Iran and negotiate a better one. He also criticized sanctions that blocked US companies from Iran and noted the difficulty of discarding a deal with UN backing.
The US Senate on Thursday passed a 10-year extension of sanctions against Iran that lawmakers and the Obama administration have said would not violate the nuclear agreement reached last year with Iran. On Friday, Iran threatened retaliation, saying the vote breached the deal.
The measure, which passed the US House of Representatives last month, now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law. That would delay potentially tougher actions until next year.
Several Republican US lawmakers already have introduced proposals for additional sanctions on Iran separate from the nuclear pact or plan to do so.
"The big difference next year is that we will go from a White House that did everything it could to block these bills to a White House that will be in favor and maybe even sponsor some of these proposals," a congressional source told the Financial Times.