Hawzah News Agency -A leading Lebanese newspaper wrote that the sanctions imposed by the US against Iran's Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei indicate that former embargos have failed to yield desired results and Washington has become desperate in dealing with Tehran.

"The only way left for Trump was sanctions imposed for the first time against Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his office and 8 commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)," the Arabic-language al-Akhbar newspaper wrote on Tuesday.

It described the US new sanctions as symbolic, and wrote, "This measure indicates the depth of the bottleneck that the US is involved in."

Al-Akhbar stressed that the new sanctions against Ayatollah Khamenei and the IRGC commanders are last-ditch efforts by the man in the White House, and show that Washington's options are limited after Iran shot down a US spy drone over its territorial waters.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday that the US will blacklist Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and block “billions” more in Iranian assets as part of expanded sanctions.

Mnuchin told reporters Zarif would be added to an economic sanctions list “later this week,” adding that eight top military commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have now also been blacklisted.

The Treasury Department’s announcement came as President Donald Trump authorized sanctions on Ayatollah Khamenei. 

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei strongly rejected talks with the United States, and told the visiting Japanese premier that he doesn't see Donald Trump as a party deserving to receive a message from Iran.