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. 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: 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. 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. 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. "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. 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. Others were linked to support for the country's ballistic missile program. 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.
Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the January 12 U.S. sanctions on Chief Justice Sadeq Amoli-Larijani are "beyond all [...] red lines."