| Iran's central bank governor said on Friday that Tehran has withdrawn the assets held by its banks in Europe to counter new financial sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear program. | |
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"The Central bank has transferred the bank assets from Europe. Currently there is no problem in regards to blocking of assets of the Iranian banks by the European Union," Mahmoud Bahmani was quoted as saying by Fars news agency. He added that the preemptive measure was a precautionary response to a potential European decision to freeze Iranian asset. He did not comment on how much money was involved, what its destination was or when the transfers took place, AFP reported. "We will address the needs of our people during sanctions, since the Central Bank predicted the situation six months ago," he added. On June 9, the UN Security Council hit Iran with a fourth set of sanctions over its nuclear program. The EU measures include a ban on the sale of equipment, technology and services to Iran's energy sector, hitting activities in refining, liquefied natural gas, exploration and production. Iranian officials have dismissed the sanctions as ineffective, warning that they would stop doing business with countries that seek to impose limitations on its assets, according to Press TV. Earlier this week, Bahmani said Iran's foreign exchange reserves had been doubled in a short period time thanks to a change in our "foreign currency basket." On August 8, Bahmani said Iran must cut imports to overcome the sanctions, which target Iran's banking, financial and energy sectors. Last month, the CBI head announced that Iran had increased its foreign currency reserves by USD 9 billion through selling gold and foreign exchange transactions. Two days later, First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Iran would limit its purchases from the European Union, which amounted to 11.4 billion euros, or 27 percent of Iranian imports in 2009, according to EU statistics |
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