Azerbaijan, Baku, June 17 / Trend T.Konyayeva /
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast believes the U.S. uses the 'smart sanctions' term as propaganda to divide the people and government, in fact - 'smart' sanctions are absurd.
"The U.S. claims that the new sanctions are designed against the Iranian government, but not against the people," Mehmanaparast told Trend over the telephone." A big mistake of the U.S. is that they separate the Iranian people from the government, but the Iranian people support their government."
June 17, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said the 'smart' sanctions are not aimed against the Iranian people, but against the government and military forces who, in his words, "take away the possibility of economic development among the Iranian people".
Mehmanparast said the new sanctions will not affect people or the Iranian government.
"The U.S. sanctions will lead to the development of the Iranian people and the improvement of technology, on which the embargo was imposed," Mehmanparast said. "In addition, Iran enjoys good relations with many countries, excepting some Western countries."
He noted that direct U.S. sanctions against Iran only aggravate the situation.
"The decision to influence Iran by sanctions is a wrong step, firstly, because our nuclear program is implemented as part of commitments to the IAEA," Mehmanparast said. "There is no reason to apply sanctions on Iran, as all our nuclear activities are conducted within the law."
The United States expanded the list of the Iranian companies, which are subject to trade and economic sanctions
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the sanctions are applied on the influential Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and one of the major Iranian banks, as well as oil, insurance and shipping companies. All of them, according to the U.S. authorities, are relevant to Iran's nuclear program.
Washington adopted new unilateral sanctions a week after the UN Security Council tightened the international sanctions against Iran over its refusal to cooperate with the international community over its nuclear program.
Mehmanparast named the decision to impose sanctions as wrong also because of the fact that so far the sanctions had no effect on Iran.
D.Khatinoglu contributed to the article.
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