TEHRAN - Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini has condemned the new U.S. sanctions against Iran, calling them “worthless and ineffective”.

The United States on Thursday escalated tensions over Iran’s nuclear drive and alleged backing for Iraqi Shia militia with a raft of new sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s military and banks.
“The United States’ hostile policy toward the noble nation of Iran and the Islamic Republic’s lawfully established organizations runs contrary to international law, is worthless, and is doomed to failure, as before,” Hosseini said here on Thursday.
The United States, which is itself a manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction and a creator and supporter of many terrorist groups, will not be able to impede the progress of the Iranian nation and its lawfully established organizations through such measures, he added.
--------IRGC ready to defend revolutionary ideals
The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, shrugged off harsh new U.S. sanctions that are the most sweeping since 1979, saying, “Now as always, the IRGC is ready to defend the ideals of the revolution more than ever before,” AP reported.
The sanctions ban U.S. dealings with the extensive network of businesses believed linked to the IRGC -- and put stepped-up pressure on international banks to cut any ties with those firms.
The Bush administration hopes its new sanctions will push companies around the world to cut their business ties with Iran. “It is increasingly likely that if you are doing business with Iran, you are doing business with the IRGC,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said.
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday called earlier UN sanctions, which punish a list of Iranian companies believed linked to the nuclear program, “a pile of papers that have no value.”
-------- China says U.S. sanctions will complicate matters
China said on Friday the new sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran will only complicate the dispute over the Iranian nuclear program.
“Dialogue and negotiations are the best approach to resolving the Iranian nuclear issue,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement in response to a question from The Associated Press.
“To impose new sanctions on Iran at a time when the international community and the Iranian authorities are working hard to find a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue can only complicate the issue.”
Washington has already pushed through two UN Security Council sanctions resolutions against Iran. Chinese officials say China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the council, would not support further sanctions from the body