The Trump administration announced on Monday new sanctions against Iran's defense ministry and others involved in Tehran's nuclear and weapons program.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, flanked by other top members of President Donald Trump's national security team, told reporters Washington had also imposed new sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has forged closer ties between Caracas and Tehran.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had said earlier on Sunday that the U.S. is facing defeat in its move to restore those sanctions.

"America is approaching a certain defeat in its sanctions move ... It faced defeat and negative response from the international community," Rouhani said in a televised speech.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacted on Monday by saying those sanctions have been already imposed on Iran before and are nothing new.

Zarif added that if the U.S. hoped those sanctions would “bring our population to their knees, it didn’t.”

Washington has unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Iran since 2018, which combined with a drop in oil prices have crippled the economy in Iran, which also has the highest COVID-19 death toll in the Middle East with 24,301 deaths.

Iran's rial has lost about 75% of its value since 2018.

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