US travel curbs on Iranian diplomats 'inhuman': Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

UNITED NATIONS: Iran`s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that tight U.S. travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York are "basically inhuman."

"It is certainly not a friendly action. It puts the members of the mission and their families under basically inhuman conditions. But for me it`s fine because I don`t have any work anywhere other than the three buildings," he told reporters at the United Nations. 

The United States has restricted their travel to between the United Nations, the Iranian U.N. mission, the Iranian U.N. ambassador`s residence and John F. Kennedy airport. There is also a carve-out for six blocks surrounding Queensboro Plaza in the borough of Queens. It was not immediately clear why. Kennedy airport is also in Queens.

Longtime U.S.-Iran strains have worsened since U.S. President Donald Trump last year quit a 2015 international agreement to curb Iran`s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Trump has imposed more sanctions on Iran. 

"The United States is engaged in economic war against Iran," Zarif said. "It targets ordinary civilians, it amounts to terrorism." When asked what steps need to be taken to de-escalate tensions between Washington and Tehran, Zarif said: "That has to stop. Once it stops, other things can follow."