Iran Slams US Sanctions, Prepares for Oil Ban on EU
Iran condemned Tuesday the new US moves to tighten existing sanctions as "psychological warfare" while Iranian lawmakers readied a ban on oil sales to the European Union.
The Iranian parliament announced Tuesday that it was ready to impose a ban on oil exports to some European states.
"In retaliation to the Zionist-backed measure of the European countries to ban Iran oil, we are ready to impose a ban on oil exports to some European countries," lawmaker Mohammad Javad Karimi-Qoddusi said.
The EU agreed to impose an oil embargo on January 23, but allowed a six-month grace period to ease the transition for European states dependent on Iranian oil such as Greece and Italy.
Iran in response had threatened to impose an immediate ban on oil sales to the EU, which could have an adversarial effect on the debt-ridden economies of Greece and Italy.
But Iran's parliament postponed a parliamentary debate set for January 30 as a gesture to renew negotiations.
However, US President Barack Obama's Monday move to tighten US sanctions has, however, prompted Iran to fast-track its own sanctions on the EU.
"The draft bill has been almost finalized. It will oblige the government to immediately cut oil exports to the EU. The bill also will ban import of any goods from the EU," lawmaker Parviz Sarvari told Fars, adding that the majority of MPs backed the urgent legislation bill.
Also Tuesday, Iran rejected as a "antagonistic" a tightening of US sanctions that targets the Islamic state's central bank and gives US banks new powers to freeze assets linked to the Iranian government.
"It is an antagonistic move... a psychological war which has no impact... There is nothing new, it has been going on for over 30 years," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a weekly news conference.
"Sanctions will not have any impact on our nuclear course."
"Iran has always welcomed fruitful and constructive talks...But we have always said that our nuclear rights are not negotiable," Mehmanparast said.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
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