Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman has slammed the new round of US sanctions targeting the country’s oil industry as a “ransom” to the Israeli regime following the Islamic Republic’s retaliatory operation against the occupied territories earlier in the month.

According to The Iran Project, Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement on Sunday that the bans are “illegal and unjustified” after the US Treasury Department slapped Iran with a spate of new sanctions on a number of companies in the country’s oil and petrochemical industry as a response to Tehran’s October 1 attack against Tel Aviv.

Baghaei underscored Iran’s missile operation as a legal action under international law and in line with the exercise of the inherent right of self-defense.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman censured the US move to impose sanctions against several companies and ships over what Washington claimed to be involvement in the transfer of Iranian oil products, and termed it as a “form of ransom to the rogue Israeli regime.”

Pointing to the destructive and negative role of the US in the security and stability of the West Asian region, Baghaei said Washington is the “most important” political supporter and the main supplier of weapons used by the Zionist regime in the Gaza genocide and aggression against Lebanon, and also the regime’s partner and accomplice in committing the most severe international crimes.