TEHRAN — Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi has denounced U.S. sanctions on Iran’s Guardian Council, saying sanctions on the election watchdog body are against democracy.

“Sanctions on the members of the Guardian Council are in fact sanctions on the protectors of democracy and human rights,” Mousavi said on Wednesday, Mehr reported.

He made the remarks on the anniversary of the establishment of the Guardian Council.

“The constitution of each country is a fundamental document in the government and the charter of the rights and duties of government officials and institutions on the one hand and the people on the other,” he said.

Pointing to the significant role of the council in the country, he added, “Guardianship and protection of the rights of the people as the main owners of the country is submitted in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Guardian Council; an institution whose task is to strike a balance between public interests, including public order and social freedoms. This serious task is accomplished through monitoring the laws and interpreting the constitution.”

“On the other hand, the Guardian Council, as the guardian of the Constitution, is also responsible for upholding fundamental rights and freedoms.”

Stressing that the Guardian Council is one of the important achievements of the Islamic Revolution, Mousavi said, “In addition to being responsible for guarding the sanctity of Islamic law and the principles of the constitution, this council also has the heavy task of defending the essence of religious democracy.”

He added that “the totalitarian government of the U.S., knowing which institutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran are responsible for safeguarding the values and ideals of the Islamic Revolution, put sanctions on five members of the Guardian Council in February 2020.”

“In fact, the sanctioning of this council and its members shows the depth of hatred and hostility of the U.S. regime against the government and people of Iran.”

“It also conveys the message that such sanctioned bodies are the main contributing factors behind Iran’s firm stance against the U.S. maximum pressure and decades of cruel sanctions,” he stated.

The spokesman went on to say that the sanctions “directly targets the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Such a move, Mousavi said, comes in line with the poisonous propaganda of the United States, the Zionist regime and their allies to weaken undermine Iran’s integrity.

Earlier in February, the United States imposed sanctions on five Iranian officials, including Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of the Guardian Council, which is responsible for supervising the electoral process in the country.

The sanctions were announced a day before a key parliamentary vote which is seen as a referendum on Iran’s diplomacy to counter imperialistic U.S. policies.

U.S. special representative for Iran, Brian Hook accused the sanctioned officials of preventing free and fair elections by disqualifying a number of candidates.

MH/PA