Tehran (IP) - Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that Iran sanctioned the US Ambassador to Iraq Matthew Tueller for his central role in coordinating terrorist acts in the country and the assassination of the late Commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Lt Gen Qassem Soleimani.

 "US Ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, has had a central role in coordinating terrorist acts in Iraq & beyond, in the criminal assassination of Gen Soleimani and in advancing sanctions against our people," Khatibzadeh wrote on his page on Twitter.

"Today, Iran designated him and two other officials involved. Anti-Iran moves won't go unanswered," he added.

On Friday morning, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury put the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi and five Iranian entities on the sanctions list.

"A close adviser to former IRGC-QF Commander Qassem Soleimani, Masjedi played a formative role in the IRGC-QF’s Iraq policy," the statement said.

Reacting to his name being included in the US sanctions list, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq said: "The US action made me more confident in the legitimacy of my goal and actions and strengthened my determination to achieve the holy goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian people."

Iraj Masjedi stated: "The US terrorist and criminal regime has once again put 80 million Iranians and me on its criminal sanctions list and deprived the people and thousands of children and patients of access to medicine and food at the height of the coronavirus outbreak and under its inhuman pressures."
​