(MENAFN- IANS) Tehran, July 31 (IANS) Iran on Thursday accused the United States of weaponizing the economy and using sanctions as tools to "dictate its will on independent nations" such as Iran and India and impede their growth and development.

"The United States continues to weaponize the economy and use sanctions as tools to dictate its will on independent nations such as Iran and India and impede their growth and development. These coercive discriminatory actions violate the principles of international law and national sovereignty, representing a modern form of economic imperialism," the Embassy of Iran in India posted on X.

"Resisting such policies is a stand for a more powerful emerging non Western-led multilateral world order and a stronger Global South," it added.

The reaction came less than 24 hours after US President Donald Trump announced that he will levy a 25 per cent tariff on India and a penalty for buying Russian oil, starting August 1.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Thursday described the new US sanctions against Iran's oil trade as a "malicious act" aimed at damaging the country's economic development and the well-being of its people.

Strongly condemning the imposition of new sanctions by the US against a group of Iranian individuals, entities, and vessels related to Iran's oil and energy sector, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei described the "oppressive sanctions" as clear evidence of the hostility of US decision-makers toward the Iranian people.

"The Foreign Ministry spokesperson further stressed that Washington's addiction to unilateralist behavior and its reliance on illegal and coercive tools to pursue illegitimate objectives at the international level, as well as its flagrant disregard for the rule of law and human rights, has made a mockery of the fundamental principles of international law, including respect for state sovereignty and the freedom of interstate trade, putting the world at unprecedented risk," read a statement issued by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Addressing the media in Tehran, Baqaei said that these unilateral and illegal sanctions are criminal in nature, violate the fundamental principles and norms of international law and human rights, and constitute a crime against humanity.

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