Iranian flag
Iranian flagThinkstock

Iran remained defiant after US President Donald Trump unveiled new sanctions against the Islamic Republic Tuesday, with a senior Iranian General warning the US that such a move would threaten the safety of its military bases in the Persian Gulf.

"If the United States wants to pursue sanctions against Iran's defenses and the Guards, then it has to move its regional bases to a distance of about 1,000 km (620 miles) around Iran and be aware that it would pay a high price for any miscalculations," the Tasnim news agency quoted Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari as saying.

The Trump Administration initiated a slew of new economic sanctions against Iran in what it said was punishment for its missile program. The Treasury Department put 16 Iran-linked entities on a blacklist, and blamed them for various human rights abuses.

The fresh sanctions were announced a day after the Trump Administration announced that Iran was abiding by the terms of the nuclear deal reached with the Obama Administration, albeit the administration maintains that Iran continues to violate the spirit of the deal. The new approach signaled that the Trump administration is taking a harder line with the Islamic Republic, with the New York Times reported that Trump needed to be talked out of ripping up the deal entirely by senior members of the administration.

Trump had made backing out of the nuclear agreement with Iran a major campaign promise.

"This Administration will continue to aggressively target Iran's malign activity, including their ongoing state support of terrorism, ballistic missile program, and human rights abuses," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

"The sanctions" he continued, “send a strong signal that the United States cannot and will not tolerate Iran’s provocative and destabilizing behavior. We will continue to target the IRGC and pressure Iran to cease its ballistic missile program and malign activities in the region.”