The Lebanese Central Bank governor stated that there were no restrictions for his country's banks to carry on with monetary and financial cooperation with Iran and no instructions for freezing relations had been issued.
IRNA news agency reported that Riyadh Salameh met in Beirut with Iran's ambassador to Lebanon and said that the Central Bank has no restrictions for Iranian nationals doing business with Lebanese banks.
Bank Saderat Iran has been working in Lebanon since long ago, abides by Lebanese laws and is protected by our Central bank, he said.
Salameh noted that albeit the low volume of trade and financial transaction between the two countries, there were no restrictions regarding business with Iran whatsoever.
"We welcome business with Iranian financial institutions," he said.
He went on to say that Iran is a big country and the sanctions imposed on it can do it no harm.
The Iranian ambassador Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi pointed out that the sanctions against Iran are politically motivated and stated, "The sanctions have driven the country towards self-sufficiency in various fields including agriculture, industry, military, healthcare and so on.
Several media outlets had recently distorted a Bloomberg interview with Salameh and claimed the Lebanese Central Bank was in favor of implementing U.S. and U.N. sanctions against Iran.