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Iran reaps benefits of US-led sanctions

Iran Materials 23 November 2010 14:56 (UTC +04:00)
Iran's First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi says the US-engineered UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against Tehran have turned into "great economic opportunities."
Iran reaps benefits of US-led sanctions

Iran's First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi says the US-engineered UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against Tehran have turned into "great economic opportunities."

"The sanctions in the past and today have led to fortune and blessings for us as we have managed to turn them into economic opportunities," Rahimi said in a joint press conference with Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia on Tuesday, Press TV reported.

He noted that since Iran's economy was not dependent on the economies hit hard by the global recession.

We have not been harmed by the sanctions. Rather, the scheme has prompted us to stand on our own feet, ISNA reported.

"Under these conditions we managed to sign economic memoranda of understanding with other countries, including Algeria and take effective economic steps along with our political interactions," the Iranian official added.

The UNSC imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran on June 9 as a punitive measure against Iran's civilian nuclear program and its efforts to engage in uranium enrichment for the Tehran research reactor, following deliberate attempts by Western powers to block Iran's access to the required fuel.

The US-sponsored sanctions against Iran's civilian nuclear work came as the US itself possesses thousands of nuclear warheads and remains the only country that has used atomic weapons in the past, killing over 150,000 Japanese.

The United States and its Western allies have vaguely accused Iran of a potential "intent" to engage in a weapons program under the guise of peaceful nuclear work.

Iran has fiercely rejected Western allegations that its nuclear program has any military aspect, as verified by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Tehran also argues that as an IAEA member and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has the right to peaceful and civilian nuclear energy.

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