EU removes Iran's Bank Saderat from sanctions list

Iran's Bank Saderat has been removed from the European Union's sanctions list, the bank's public relations announced on Wednesday, FNA reported.

An EU court in charge of the case overruled the Union's earlier verdict and issued a ruling in support of Bank Saderat after intensive legal work and the bank's follow-up measures, striking the name of Bank Saderat off the EU sanctions list, public relations said.

The EU court ruling in support of Bank Saderat came despite the extensive efforts made by the Union lawyers and legal advisors to maintain the sanctions.

Two other Iranian banks, Bank Mellat and Bank Sina, were earlier removed from the EU's sanctions list.

Last week, the EU court removed Bank Mellat from its sanctions after two and half years of intensive legal work.

Managing-Director of Bank Mellat Ali Divandari said that his bank has been removed from the EU's sanctions list.

"After two and half years of intensive legal work to remove the sanctions, the court declared a ruling in support of Bank Mellat," Divandari said.

In August, the Council of the European Union reversed its decision for imposing sanctions against Divandari after the latter party filed a complaint at international bodies and sued the EU over its illegal action.

In December, the European Union's highest judicial authority overturned the union's sanctions against Iran's Bank Sina.

"On December 11, EU Court Judge Irena Pelikanova (from the Czech Republic) informed the EU and Sina Bank lawyers of the verdict she issued after 20 months of precisely studying the causes of the sanctions against the bank and the documents presented at court's hearing sessions," the bank's managing-director Abdolnasser Hemati said.

The European Union Council had ordered sanctions against Sina Bank on July 26, 2010, but the EU Court ruled on Tuesday that the documents and evidence provided by the union officials against the bank were groundless and unjustifiable in legal terms.

According to the court ruling, the EU's measures against Sina Bank have violated the bank's basic rights.

After the UN Security Council ratified a sanctions resolution against Iran on June 9, 2010, the United States and the European Union imposed further unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, mostly targeting the country's energy and banking sectors.

Tehran has always dismissed West's pressures and stressed that sanctions and embargos merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path of progress.