US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said that the United States will continue imposing sanctions on Iran for its sanctionable actions outside of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will continue imposing sanctions on Iran for its sanctionable actions outside of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement.

On Saturday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Iran's compliance with the agreement on country's nuclear program and implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) came into effect. Soon after that, the regime of sanctions imposed on Tehran by the United States has been substantially weakened.

"As we have said all along, while the JCPOA addresses the nuclear issues, it does not resolve other areas where Iran’s behavior remains unacceptable. We will continue to target sanctionable activities outside of the JCPOA – including those related to Iran’s support for terrorism, regional destabilization, human rights abuses, and ballistic missile development," Lew said on Saturday.

He added that despite lifting a significant part of sanctions, the US embargo broadly remained in place, meaning that US citizens and entities would still be prohibited from direct contacts with the majority of Iranian entities.

On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries comprising the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, signed the JCPOA. The agreement guarantees the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

By Sputnik News