Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announced Tehran’s determination to continue to bypass sanctions after national and foreign companies were penalised by the US on Friday, Reuters has reported.
A number of Iranian and international firms, banks and airlines were given a fresh round of curbs for violating sanctions imposed on Iran, mostly with regards to the country’s nuclear program.
The list of penalised companies included Goldentex FZE, a UAE-based working with Iran’s shipping sector, and an Italian firm, Dettin SpA, which it said was working with Iran’s petrochemical industry.
The US has accused them of aiding Iran’s nuclear programme, which the West suspects may be aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability, while Iran insists it is only being built for peaceful purposes.
The new measures have come just over two weeks before P5 +1 talks resume in New York.
“The sanctions are cruel and illegal and we fulfil our duty for circumventing the sanctions,” Zanganeh was cited as saying by the oil ministry’s news website Shana, Reuters has reported.
“We do not recognise the sanctions,” he said, referring to Friday’s new curbs.
Source » arabianindustry