“Enemy sanctions against Iran will have no effect on the country’s budget for 1391 [according to the Persian calendar year] (beginning March 20, 2012),” said Mir-Tajeddini in a Saturday interview in the central town of Khomeini Shahr.
He pointed out that next year’s fiscal budget has been drawn up in a way to meet the country’s requirements under all circumstances, reiterating that Iran is prepared to counter any impact by the US-led sanctions, no matter how severe they may be.
The senior official downplayed the upshots of the embargoes and argued that the West’s economic pressures have driven Iran towards self-sufficiency and stimulated the ingenuity of Iranian experts.
The United States and its allies have been accusing Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program, and have used the allegation to push for four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions on the Islamic Republic and to take more unilateral measures against the country.
Iran has categorically refuted the Western allegation, saying that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to acquire and develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The EU agreed on January 23 to ban oil imports from Tehran, freeze the assets of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) across the EU, and ban the sales of grains, diamonds, gold, and other precious metals to the country.
The EU sanctions came after US President Barack Obama signed into law fresh unilateral economic sanctions against the CBI in an apparent bid to punish foreign companies and banks that do business with the Iranian financial institution.
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Publish Date: 12 February 2012 - 14:49
Iran's Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad-Reza Mir-Tajeddini says the recent round of Western sanctions against Iran has no impact on the country’s fiscal budget for the upcoming Iranian year.