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Iran’s Bank Mellat challenges UK sanctions in Britain's Supreme Court

Iran Materials 20 March 2013 09:31 (UTC +04:00)
An Iranian bank is challenging UK sanctions against it in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Iran’s Bank Mellat challenges UK sanctions in Britain's Supreme Court

An Iranian bank is challenging UK sanctions against it in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Press TV reported.

On Tuesday, Bank Mellat appealed to the court against the sanctions imposed over its alleged links to Iran's nuclear energy program.

The British government imposed the sanctions in 2009, but it has failed to provide evidence that the bank indirectly facilitated Iran's nuclear energy program.

The bank announced that it has been unable to defend itself over allegations of indirectly facilitating Iran's nuclear program because a lower court heard the case behind closed doors.

London has urged the Supreme Court to consider the secret material as part of its deliberations on the bank's appeal, but Bank Mellat has said that would be unfair as it has not received any evidence from the secret hearing.

The sanctions against Bank Mellat, which came into force in October 2009, prevent anyone in the British financial sector from having any business relationship or conducting any transactions with the bank.

Bank Mellat won a similar legal battle against EU sanctions in January.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the EU imposed sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran. The sanctions took effect last summer.

On October 15, 2012, the EU foreign ministers reached an agreement on another round of sanctions against Iran.

The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies.

The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.

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