Iran parliament adopts motion to reciprocate U.S. sanctions

National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Majlis (parliament) on Saturday passed the general outlines of a motion to reciprocate the recent U.S. sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The motion, if ratified in the Majlis open meeting, will "counter the terrorist and adventurous measures of the United States in the region," Press TV reported.

It also envisages measures to support the Iranian armed and security forces as well as those Iranians who would be affected by the U.S. actions, Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araqchi, who had attended the meeting of the commission, said.

Araqchi described the motion as an appropriate measure in response to the "hostile and malicious" policies of the United States.

The U.S. sanction measures would have adverse effects on the implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement, also known as JCPOA, which was signed between Iran and six world powers in July 2015, he said.

The United States imposed on Friday new ballistic missile sanctions on Iran in response to what it called Tehran's "continued provocative actions" including a recent rocket launch, said U.S. Treasury Department.

Iran launched on Thursday a space vehicle which used technologies "closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile," representing a "threatening step by Iran," said the U.S. statement.