WASHINGTON/TEHRAN - In what is widely interpreted as an attempt to de-escalate tension between Tehran and Washington, the White House said Saturday it needs more time before announcing any sanctions over Iran's ballistic missile program.

While stressing that the Iran nuclear deal will not impede future sanctions against Iran, Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, said the U.S. government has more diplomatic and technical work to do before making the final decision to slap punitive measures against Iran.

"The fact of the matter is we have additional work that needs to be done before we would announce additional designations, but this not something that we would negotiate with the Iranian government," Rhodes said, "They don't get a say in who we impose sanctions on."

Rhodes made the remarks in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is on vacation.

Rhodes denied that the additional work is a result of pressure from Tehran.

"We fully expect them to protest our sanctions. They do that when they know we're preparing them. They do that after we make announcements of designations," Rhodes said.(Xinhua)