FNA - Iranian Deputy Interior Minister for Security and Law Enforcement Affairs Hossein Zolfaqari warned that the US sanctions against Iran are a tool used by enemies to stir insecurity inside the country, and called for more unity among the Iranian people.

"The ultimate goal of the enemies is not economic sanctions but they want to distort stability and security in Iran," Zolfaqari said, addressing a meeting in the Western city of Hamedan on Tuesday.

He added that the Americans merely think of their own interests and have targeted Iran's security, stressing the need for increased unity among the Iranians.

In relevant remarks in September, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warned that enemies had supplied terrorist groups with arms and equipment to foment insecurity in Iran, stressing that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was standing against them like a strong dam.

"The enemy intends to distort independence and security in Iran; they, for instance, armed all (terrorist) grouplets in Northwestern and Southeastern Iran but they cannot make a move thanks to the presence of the IRGC," Larijani said, addressing a meeting in the Southern province of Fars.

"The enemies equip these grouplets to disturb security in Iran," he added.

Larijani cautioned that enemies are after increasing pressures on the Iranian people with the aim of disappointing them.

Also in the same month, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani warned that any hostile move and threat against the country would receive a much stronger response.

"The hit-and-run era in the world has ended and we will give a response to any hostile move in any area ten times stronger than that," Shamkhani said.