Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 16 /Trend S.Isayev/
The Iranian regime now is trying to restrict everything in terms of the way their citizens use their foreign exchange, and from our perspective, it speaks to extreme economic mismanagement, extreme political mismanagement, and the fact that Iranian people are now feeling full effects of bad decision that their government has made, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a daily press briefing in Washington, department's website reported.
The spokeswoman was commenting on Iran planning to cut back imports of nonessential goods into the country.
On October 7, the Iranian Fars News Agency reported that the Iranian lawmakers are preparing a double urgency bill on ban of imports of unnecessary and luxury goods.
Islamic Republic MPs are going to investigate on data released by the Central Bank of Iran claiming it has allocated $25 billion for imports in the past six months, according to the report.
"The sanctions are designed to continue pressuring the regime to make another choice. And from our perspective, the onus remains on the regime. The door is open, the table is set; they have to just make better choices if they truly care about their people," Nuland said.
When asked if the U.S. had any argument with the Iranian people, who today are suffering from sanctions, high prices, inflation and imports, Nuland noted that the U.S. sanctions policy is clear, as there are exceptions.
"The U.S. still exports foodstuffs and medicine to Iran, and we don't preclude or ask anybody else to stop those kinds of imports. So we are not looking to hurt the Iranian people," Nuland noted, answering the question.
"We do not have any beef with the Iranian people. We do have serious concerns about the choices that their government has made, and the Iranian people have to understand that the choices their government has made have consequences," she added.