Washington, January 04: US government on the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) will not weaken the nation’s resolve to pursue its goals and rights.
Ramin Mehmanparast added that CBI sanctions only aim to increase political pressure on Iran and part of a propaganda campaign against the country because there are no banking ties or trade exchange between the two countries.
“Countries which act under US pressure must realize that they will eventually forfeit their national interests under illegitimate US pressure and [in order] to serve US interests,” he added on Tuesday.
The official said the Iranian nation would forever remember such hostile measures despite, stressing that Iran would continue to use such pressures as an opportunity to increase the pace of its achievements.
On December 15, the US Senate endorsed tougher sanctions against Iran to punish foreign financial institutions doing business with the country’s Central Bank.
The Senate voted 100-0 for an amendment proposed by the Democrat Senator Robert Menendez and a Republican, Senator Mark Kirk, which would allow US President Barack Obama to impose sanctions on foreign banks engaged in a “significant financial transaction with the Central Bank of Iran.”
Since the United States had already barred its banks from dealing with the Iranian Central Bank, new sanctions apparently aim to dissuade other foreign banks from carrying out transactions with CBI by threatening to cut them off from the US financial system.
The sanctions came after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released its latest report on Tehran’s nuclear program on November 8, claiming that Iran has been engaged in activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003, which “may still be ongoing.”
The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to convince the UN Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions on Iran.
Tehran has categorically refuted Western allegations, saying that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to acquire and develop atomic technology for peaceful purposes.
——Agencies