Iran's top leader threatens to retaliate if U.S. extends sanctions

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that if the United States renews the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), the Islamic republic will "definitely" react.

"So far, the incumbent U.S. government has committed several violations with regard to the nuclear agreement," Khamenei said, adding that "the most recent of them is the 10-year extension of the sanctions" by the U.S. House of Representatives.

"If these sanctions are executed, this will surely constitute a violation of the JCPOA (or Iran's nuclear deal) and they (the U.S. officials) should know that the Islamic republic will definitely react to it," he was quoted as saying by Press TV.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted for the extension of the ISA for another 10 years. To become a law, the bill has still to be endorsed by the Senate and to be signed by the U.S. president. The law was first adopted in 1996 to sanction Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

Under the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers in July 2015, the disputes over Tehran's controversial nuclear program were ended.

The deal, which went into effect in January, requires Iran scrap the bulk of its nuclear activities in return for the ease of international sanctions on the country's energy and financial sectors. Endit