TEHRAN, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry rejected the U.S. President Trump's demand to release detained Americans, describing it as "interfering and unacceptable," Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.
"The meddlesome and threatening statements by the United States would not affect the Iranian Judiciary's determination to prosecute and punish the violators of Iran's law and national security," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying.
Qasemi stressed the independence of Iranian Judiciary, adding that Iranian Judiciary is responsible to deal with the behaviors and moves that would threaten the national security.
He also said that the U.S. administration is pursuing an incorrect and illegal approach, in which it threatens other countries and interferes in their internal affairs.
The spokesman also urged Washington to immediately release the Iranian nationals who have been jailed in the United States on "false" charges.
On Friday, Trump warned Iran of facing "new and serious consequences" if Iran did not release the imprisoned Americans.
"President Trump is prepared to impose new and serious consequences on Iran unless all unjustly imprisoned American citizens are released and returned," said the White House in a statement.
The U.S. statement followed earlier remarks by an Iranian Judiciary official, saying that an Iranian court had sentenced a U.S. dual national to 10 years in prison over spying charges.
The person who owns the nationality of both the United States and another country had snooped into Iran to gather documents and intelligence, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie, spokesman for Iranian judiciary, told the reporters.
Iran has sentenced several dual nationals, some of them hold U.S. citizenship, over spying charges in the past years.
The latest example dates back to September 2016, when Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced the arrest of an Iranian-American in the country's northeastern province of Golestan over spying and security charges.
In August 2016, Iran reportedly arrested another person, also with dual citizenships, accusing him of linking to Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6.
