Iran declares UN sanctions ineffective

Iranian officials have dismissed US sanctions as ineffective, saying that they are finding Asian partners instead, Fars reports. Several Chinese and other Asian firms are negotiating or signing up to oil and gas deals with Iran. International and unilateral sanctions against Iran will have no result except to inflict damage on European companies, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, describing boycotts against Tehran at the very least as useless.

Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that western sanctions have caused a growth in the country's domestic capabilities, as they have forced Tehran to rely on local experts and companies. Speaking to journalists about the UN Security Council sanctions against Iran, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Mohammad Reza Farzin
pointed to the financial and budget deficit in the US and other western countries, including Germany. "Due to the continued financial crisis and other economic problems in the EU, these countries lack the necessary power to impose sanctions on countries such as Iran," declared Mr Farzin.

He also pointed out that the West is trying to increase the psychological impacts of the sanctions, and added that Tehran has already adopted appropriate measures to deter such effects, by forming a special decision-making body, under the country's first vice-president and with the membership of executive bodies, to study and review the steps which need to be taken to confront the sanctions.

After the UN Security Council ratified a sanctions resolution against Iran on June 9, the United States and the European Union started approving their own unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic on account of its nuclear program, mostly targeting the country's energy and banking sectors.

Iranian Industries and Mines Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian reiterated that, despite the economic sanctions imposed against Iran over the last 30 years, the country has made astonishing and abundant progress in various fields, while the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, underlined that Iran is determined to help other nations, despite the West's continuing pressure and sanctions against Tehran.