"The hostile and illegitimate actions of Trump's regime to include Larijani in the sanctions list… have crossed all red lines for behavior in the international community and represent a violation of international law and both bilateral and international US commitments, to which Iran will respond with a serious answer," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, noting that Washington's decision only demonstrated the ongoing American hostility toward Iranians.

The ministry has once again reiterated the country's position on the issue, opposing the US move concerning the Iran nuclear deal.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran stresses clearly that it will take no measures beyond its commitments under the JCPOA and will accept no changes to this agreement now or in the future and will not allow that the JCPOA be linked to any other issue [than the nuclear issue]," the statement read.

Iran's Foreign Ministry, sending a strong message to the US, has named those, whom they consider to be behind the attempt to undermine the deal, which took years and great diplomatic efforts to reach.

"The internal solidity of and international support for the agreement have blocked attempts by Mr. Trump, the Zionist regime [of Israel], and the ominous alliance of hard-line warmongers to terminate this agreement or make changes to it," the ministry said.

READ MORE: US Likely Took Course to Demolish Iran Nuclear Deal — Russia's Deputy FM

The tough stance was voiced a day after US President Donald Trump announced his decision to suspend restrictions on Iran for another 120 days to remain in the deal so that the United States and Europe could fix "significant flaws" in it. Simultaneously, Washington imposed separate sanctions on a dozen Iranian individuals, including Iran's Chief of Judiciary Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, and entities, related to the country's ballistic missile program.

READ MORE: Trump Decides to Extend Iran Sanctions Waiver, But for the Last Time — WH

The decision is in line with a position Trump has been voicing in relation to the Islamic Republic since his election campaign. When he became the US president, Trump officially reiterated his views concerning the country, refusing to re-certify the deal in late October 2017.

Despite all this criticism, Trump, however, does not contest Tehran's compliance with the deal at the international level, while at the same time not excluding the possibility of withdrawing from the deal if the agreement is not improved. Other JCPOA signatories have called on the United States to comply with the agreement's provisions, saying that the deal had yielded results and was non-negotiable.

The Iran deal, also known as the JCPOA, that was signed in July 2015 by Tehran and the P5+1 group of nations — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, stipulates a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in exchange for the country maintaining peaceful nature of its nuclear program.</s>Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The US strongly criticised Iran for a crackdown on recent anti-government protests

Iran says the US has "crossed a red line" by imposing sanctions on the head of its judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli-Larijani.

The foreign ministry vowed to retaliate but did not say what form any action might take.

Iran also rejected any changes to its nuclear deal with world powers.

US President Donald Trump, a critic of the 2015 accord to prevent Iran developing nuclear arms, said he would extend sanctions relief one last time.

However, the US imposed fresh sanctions on 14 individuals and entities over alleged human rights abuses.

President Trump said he was giving Europe and the US "a last chance" to fix "terrible flaws" in the nuclear agreement signed by Iran and six world powers in 2015.

The White House wants EU signatories to agree permanent restrictions on Iran's uranium enrichment. Under the current deal they are set to expire in 2025. Mr Trump also wants Iran's ballistic missile programme to be addressed.

What are the new sanctions?

Although the US has suspended sanctions against Iran following the nuclear deal, it still imposes punitive measures over issues such as terrorism, human rights and ballistic missile development.

The US Treasury issued a statement on Friday saying Ayatollah Amoli-Larijani was responsible for the "torture or cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in Iran, including amputations".

It froze any assets he and the other individuals and entities on the list hold in the US, and "generally prohibited" Americans from engaging in transactions with them.

Foreign financial institutions or individuals could also face sanctions for doing business with those blacklisted, the US Treasury added.

The head of the Iranian judiciary had called for a crackdown on "rioters" and "vandals" following a recent spate of anti-government protests in Iranian cities.

Iran has complained that US sanctions not connected to nuclear activity have effectively cancelled out any financial benefits it expected from the 2015 deal.

How else did Iran react?

Iran's foreign ministry accused Mr Trump of "continuing to take hostile measures against the Iranian people and repeating the threats that have failed many times".

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A timeline of what Trump has said about the Iran deal

Iran, it said, would not accept any amendments to the nuclear deal "now or in the future" or allow any other issues to be linked to it.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the US of making a "desperate attempt" to undermine a "solid" deal.

What is the nuclear deal?

The accord signed between six global powers and Iran saw Iran agree to reduce uranium enrichment activity drastically, dispose of its enriched uranium stocks and modify a heavy water facility so it could not produce material suitable for a nuclear bomb.

In return, decades of international and US nuclear-related sanctions were suspended. As part of an agreement with Congress, the president has to sign a waiver suspending the sanctions every 120 days.

What does Mr Trump want to change?

Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised the deal - reached under his predecessor Barack Obama - as "the worst ever".

The waiver he will sign suspends sanctions for another 120 days but he warned that if a new agreement was not made, sanctions would not be waived again.

"If at any time I judge that such an agreement is not within reach, I will withdraw from the deal immediately," he said.

US officials say the president will work with European partners to try to broker an agreement limiting Iran's ballistic missile activities.

He was prepared to back a modification to the existing deal if it were made permanent, one official said.

The president also wants the US Congress to amend a law on US participation in the nuclear deal, so that Washington can reimpose all sanctions if Iran breaches certain "trigger points".

This would involve negotiations between the US and its European allies rather than talks with Iran, the official said.

What have other countries said?

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, described Mr Trump's comments as "extremely negative".

Germany has said it will continue to call for the deal's full implementation and will consult on a "common way forward" with the UK and France.

French President Emmanuel Macron phoned Mr Trump on Thursday to call for "the strict application of the deal and the importance of all the signatories to respect it".</s>Bad news for anyone out there expecting integrity and honesty from Capitol Hill: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's new report, "Putin's Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for US National Security," distorts the truth about Sputnik's editorial practices.The 206-page report was compiled by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and is prefaced with a letter of transmittal by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD). Obviously there is far too much to cover in a single article, especially since a single paragraph - one focusing on the use of Sputnik as a "disinformation platform" - provides more than enough fodder for discussion.. A bold statement, to be sure - one that surely would not be made without decisive evidence, right? Right?The Senate report claims Sputnik "asked one American correspondent to explore possible connections between the death of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich and the leak of internal DNC documents to WikiLeaks, in an attempt to cast doubt on the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) assessment that Russian-backed hackers were behind the leak."Seth Rich was a Democratic National Committee (DNC) employee who was found dead outside his DC apartment in July 2016. Police judged Rich's death to be the result of a robbery gone awry, and his murderer or murderers haven't been found yet. The case became the epicenter of conspiracy theories after"We're not saying that Seth Rich's death necessarily is connected to our publication," Assange told Fox News' Megyn Kelly in August 2016. "That's something that has to be established, but if there's any question about a source of WikiLeaks being threatened then people can be assured that this organization will go after anyone who may have been involved in some kind of attempt to coerce or possibly, in this case, kill a potential source."The "American correspondent" referred to in the congressional report is Andrew Feinberg, a Sputnik Newswire Service correspondent from December to 2016 until he was fired May 26, 2017.During his tenure at Sputnik, Feinberg was an enthusiastic proponent of Sputnik's editorial integrity on his social media. After being terminated from Sputnik, however, he launched a personal vendetta against his former employer. Among other things, Feinberg claimed his editors instructed him to ask a question about the Rich investigation at a White House briefing.The truth is that Sputnik's newswire service, where Feinberg worked, never covered the Rich conspiracy. There are literally zero Seth Rich wires in its newsfeed, as any subscriber can attest."The statement that Seth Rich was brought up in the final meeting is a complete fabrication," said Sputnik editor Peter Martinichev in response to Feinberg's claims. "The story had nothing to do with the grounds of Mr. Feinberg's departure."Furthermore, Martinichev says, "The claim that asking questions during on-camera White House briefings was aimed at promoting conspiracy theories is nonsense. All queries are made to get the administration's position on different issues."Nobody has come forward to corroborate Feinberg's remarks, including Sputnik employees past or present.There's more. The report included a second allegation against Sputnik: "during the French presidential elections, Sputnik reported on unfounded rumors about the sexual preferences of the pro-EU candidate, Emmanuel Macron."This allegation is cited to an opinion piece published on Sputnik in February 2017, entitled " Ex-French Economy Minister Macron Could Be 'US Agent' Lobbying Banks' Interests ." The piece draws extensively from quotes from Nicolas Dhuicq, a conservative French assemblyman.As the name suggests, the article focuses on Macron's career as an investment banker at Rothschild & Cie Banque before he entered politics, and accusations of financial corruption that subsequently dogged him. Three paragraphs in the latter section of the article discuss Macron's personal life, such as his marriage to his former high school drama teacher Brigitte Trogneux, as well as Macron's repudiation of longstanding rumors regarding both his sexuality and his financial practices in the French press."One of the guys who backs him is famous businessman Pierre Berge, a business partner and long-time lover of Yves Saint Laurent, who is openly homosexual and advocates gay marriage. There is a very wealthy gay lobby behind him. This says it all," Dhuicq told Sputnik.The article goes on to note that in November 2016, Macron publicly denied a persistent rumor that he's secretly gay and leading a "double life" and that he also denied allegations that he used government money during his tenure as economy minister to launch his own political party, En Marche!. Not only did its story accurately quote Dhuicq, but it also presented then-candidate Macron's rebuttal of well-known allegations regarding his sexuality. How exactly does that constitute defamation, fake news or information warfare?Two claims. Two falsehoods. But it's Sputnik that's the "disinformation platform?"</s>But he coupled that announcement with new sanctions on 14 Iranian individuals and entities -- among them Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, head of Iran's judiciary.

In a statement Saturday, Iran's Foreign Ministry said the Trump administration's "hostile and illegal act" in including Larijani in its sanctions list "has gone way beyond all internationally accepted behavior red lines."

"Iran's response will be severe and all consequences of this hostile act will be the responsibility of the United States," it said.

Many of those sanctions -- including one targeted at Larijani -- were in response to the Iranian government's crackdown on peaceful protests that have swept the country in recent weeks. Others were linked to support for the country's ballistic missile program. These areas fall outside the scope of the nuclear deal. Protests die down, but the anger in Iran won't go away Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif, tweeted Friday that the United States "must bring itself into full compliance -- just like Iran," in reference to the 2015 nuclear deal agreed between Iran and world powers, including Russia. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow has a "very negative stance" on the decisions and comments made by Trump about Iran, according to state news agency Sputnik. "Our worst expectations are coming true," Ryabkov said Saturday. The prospect of a US withdrawal from the Iran deal "will deliver a very serious blow to the whole system of international agreements and to the enhancing of the nuclear nonproliferation regime," he added. The sanctioning of Larijani, the most prominent of the US targets, could have "serious political impact inside Iran," a senior Trump administration official predicted Friday. Senior administration officials said Larijani has overseen the sentencing and execution of juveniles in Tehran. Iranian students protest at the University of Tehran during a demonstration driven by anger over economic problems on December 30. The US sanctions also targeted two other Iranian officials whom the administration said are responsible for ordering abuses against citizens, including the denial of medical care and access to legal representation for protesters in Iranian jails. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Electronic Warfare and Cyber Defense Organization were each labeled for acting on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The Treasury Department also designated two Iranian defense industry firms that provide key maintenance and overhaul services for the military's helicopter and aircraft. "The United States will not stand by while the Iranian regime continues to engage in human rights abuses and injustice," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday. "We are also targeting Iran's ballistic missile program and destabilizing activities, which it continues to prioritize over the economic well-being of the Iranian people."
Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the January 12 U.S. sanctions on Chief Justice Sadeq Amoli-Larijani are "beyond all [...] red lines."