Monday, June 14, 2010

Official: Iran's Imports, Exports Not Affected by New Sanctions


TEHRAN (FNA)- The Security Council's sanctions resolution against Iran will leave no impact on the country's imports and exports, a customs official said on Sunday, stressing that the measure cannot inflict any damage on the Iranian nation. "The new Security Council sanctions against Iran have been imposed on strategic goods, including weapons and munitions, and will not have any effect on Iran's exports and imports of commodities through intermediaries and investment," Iranian Customs' Director-General for Statistics and Information Technology Hossein Kakhaki told FNA.

The official also said Iran's non-oil exports showed a 33.3% growth in value and amounted to over $4.5 billion in the first two months of the current Iranian year (March 20 to May 20).

"Iran's exports, including liquid gas byproducts, in the first two months of the current Iranian year amounted to over $4.5 bln, showing a 30% growth in weight and 33.3% increase in value, compared to the same period last year," he said.

The US-proposed resolution was passed with 12 votes on Wednesday after UNSC member states Brazil and Turkey voted against the new sanctions and Lebanon abstained from voting.

Meantime, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday blasted the US administration for pushing new UN sanctions against Tehran, and stressed that US President Barack Obama has made a "big mistake".

"I think President Obama has made a big mistake... he knows the resolution will have no effect," Ahmadinejad told a news conference in Shanghai.

President Ahmadinejad further said the resolution showed that the UN Security Council is a tool in the hand of the US administration.

Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), insists that its nuclear program is solely directed at the civilian applications of the technology.

Despite the rules enshrined in the NPT entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.

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