MNA – In a press conference on Monday, the Spokesperson of the Iranian foreign ministry Abbas Mousavi reacted to the latest remarks of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US special representative for Iran Brian Hook.

Reacting to the remarks of Mnuchin who said that US sanctions are alternative to actual war, Mousavi said “he is doing the same mistake of the US government.”

“Mnuchin said that the sanctions are alternative to war but I must say that this is wrong, since sanctions are war per se,” he said.

“Americans assumed that they could reach their goals by pulling out from the JCPOA,” Mousavi said, “They imposed 'maximum pressure' on Iran and set 12 conditions but afterwards they changed them into one condition and again into three ones.”

“The US is perplexed and not stable in political arena,” the spokesperson noted.

“Iran only considers US’ return to JCPOA as the only solution for reducing tensions,” he underlined.

“Those countries committed to Iran nuclear deal are also committed to purchase some goods from Iran and they will not accept US unilateralism,” Mousvi said.

Mnuchin on Saturday said U.S. sanctions are substitutes to military conflicts. “The reason why we’re using sanctions is because they are an important alternative for world military conflicts. And I believe it’s worked,” CNBC quoted Mnuchin as saying during Doha Forum in Qatar.

Mousavi, on Monday, also addressed Brian Hook’s remarks about exchanging prisoners saying that “Mr. Hook’s understanding of the issue is not correct.”

“Iran’s foreign policy relies on the decisions made by the establishment and it is not suffering from a political chaos as that of the US,” he said, “If a decision is made in Iran it will be implemented.”

Hook said on December 12 that the US is hopeful that the recent prisoner exchange will lead to a broader discussion on consular affairs between the US and Iran.