"The refusal of certain Western countries to refuel passenger planes is an inhumane move which runs counter to international regulations because countries are committed to provide passenger planes with required fuel," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told reporters at his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

It is a politically-motivated move led by certain Western powers, and the United States in particular, with the purpose of "exerting pressure on the Iranian nation," he added.

Mehman-Parast stated that it is a "sham imagination" to think that sanctions and pressure would make the Iranian nation stop its way to progress and give up its rights.