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Manama (AFP) Dec 4, 2010 Iran's economy has been unaffected by sanctions imposed by the West to curb its nuclear programme, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday. "The sanctions had no effect on the economy," Mottaki told a news conference in Bahrain on the sidelines of a major conference on Middle East security that was launched by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. His remarks disputed comments by US officials ahead of Monday's nuclear talks between Iran and major powers that US and UN sanctions on Iran have taken the Islamic republic's regime by surprise. William Burns, the top US negotiator for the so-called P5+1 talks with Iran, said the sanctions were "sharply" isolating Iran from the global financial system. "Iran may be losing as much as 50 to 60 billion dollars in potential energy investments, along with the critical technology and know-how that comes with them," said on Wednesday. Stuart Levey, the under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury, who is considered the US sanctions czar, said the sanctions took Iran "by surprise." "With great regularity, major companies across a range of industries... are all announcing that they're curtailing their business dealings with Iran" and that Tehran is finding it increasingly difficult to conduct major transactions in dollars or euros, he said. In its latest action against Iran, the US Treasury announced on Tuesday sanctions against 10 businesses linked to Iranian weapons programmes -- eight on the Isle of Man, one in Switzerland and one in Malaysia. Iran is also under four sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, the sensitive process which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atom bomb. Tehran denies Western concerns that its nuclear programme is aimed at making a bomb, saying it is strictly for peaceful needs.
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UN atomic watchdog sends 'spies' to Iran: ministerTehran (AFP) Dec 4, 2010 Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi accused the UN atomic watchdog on Saturday of including "spies" among the inspectors it sends to Iran to monitor the nation's controversial nuclear programme. "The International Atomic Energy Agency has dispatched spies of foreign agencies among its inspectors and thus should be held accountable for this move," he was quoted by state-run television's webs ... read more |
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