The Foreign Ministry has condemned the United States’ ongoing illegal actions against Cuba, denouncing Washington’s sanctions and attempts to intimidate Cuban officials and public figures.

In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry noted that the sanctions, pressure, and intimidation imposed on Cuba by Washington for more than seven decades violated the United Nations Charter and ran counter to international law and human rights principles.

It cited an arrest warrant issued for former Cuban president Raúl Castro by authorities in Florida, calling it a “criminal and illegal act” and urging respect for Cuba’s sovereignty, independence, and right to self-determination.

The arrest warrant was announced on Monday by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier against Castro, who led Cuba as president from 2008 to 2018. It accuses Castro of “conspiracy to commit first-degree murder” in connection with, what the verdict calls, “the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft in Cuba’s airspace.”

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel rejected the warrant in a post on X, describing it as a politically motivated legal maneuver directed against Castro and Cuba. “This reprehensible action against the Army General this morning in a pathetic Miami circus, with an electoral backdrop, has no, nor will it ever have, the slightest legal sense and even less practical sense,” he wrote. The Cuban president added that the measure “reflects the difficulties they (the United States) face in trying to justify the [American] blockade and the collective punishment of our people.”

The ministry called on the US government to be held accountable for the devastating consequences of these policies for the fundamental human rights of the Cuban people.

The statement concluded by reaffirming Iran’s solidarity with Cuba and its position that the Cuban people’s right to determine their own future had to be respected.