MNA � Russia will counter new anti-Iranian sanctions imposed by the US, together with other rational forces, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Monday.

"Of course, we are discussing the US policies of this kind. We have pointed to the illegitimacy of unilateral sanctions many times," TASS reported him as saying on Monday, a few hours after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order, imposing new sanctions against the office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Iran's foreign minister, and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in response to Tehran's downing of an American drone last week that had violated the country's airspace.

"All this is a reflection of a wider paradigm, which now seems to be the basis for the US foreign policy and is aimed at substituting the international law and universal mechanisms of international problem-resolution with its national legislation and unilateral steps," he added.

"This is a pure dictate, an attempt to impose the conditions Washington deems right on others," he underlined. "This is unacceptable for us, we will continue to counter this policy, particularly in cooperation with other forces in the international community."

"The fact that the Americans are threatening to impose new sanctions and are likely to do so is a reflection of the deliberate and purposeful escalation policy," Ryabkov said, according to another report.

Referring to US economic sanctions against Iran, Ryabkov said, �All these actions are totally counterproductive and dangerous�, adding, �No doubt, we condemn such US policy and have repeatedly declared illegality of unilateral sanctions."

Ryabkov also said the US offer of talks with Iran was �nothing but declarations�, saying, �there have been no definite proposals regarding topics of this dialogue besides what Trump said and what the state secretary and representatives of the Department of State said quite harshly in furtherance."