Iran Nuclear NewsIran says new U.S. sanctions will complicate nuclear issue

Iran says new U.S. sanctions will complicate nuclear issue

-

Reuters: Iran has played down the impact of U.S. sanctions that came into effect this week, but said the measures would complicate a resolution to the dispute over its nuclear program. DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran has played down the impact of U.S. sanctions that came into effect this week, but said the measures would complicate a resolution to the dispute over its nuclear program.

The new sanctions, which came into effect on Monday, target trade with Iran’s shipping and automobile sectors, gold sales to Iran and handling of the Iranian currency, the rial – a further attempt to force Tehran to curb its nuclear activities.

In recent years, Iran has vigorously pursued its development of nuclear technology which Western countries suspect is masking its attempts to develop a weapons capability, allegations Iranian officials have repeatedly denied.

“We have no doubt that sanctions are a broken policy and we are surprised about why the American government and other governments who take part in these sanctions continually repeat a mistaken and failed policy,” the state television website quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi as saying late on Monday.

“Removing sanctions would count as a confidence-building measure and can assist in a resolution of the issue but increasing sanctions would have no result, apart from making the issue more complex and harder to resolve,” he said.

Hopes for a resolution to the nuclear dispute were boosted last month with the election as president of Hassan Rouhani, a former nuclear negotiator who promises a softer approach to foreign relations than hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Analysts say it remains uncertain whether Iran with Rouhani as president will be more amenable to the demands of world powers that it halt its most sensitive enrichment, to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, and stop work at Fordow, an underground nuclear facility where uranium is enriched.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on all the big decisions in Iran, especially on the nuclear issue.

Last week the head of Iran’s atomic energy organization, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, said there would be no change in Iran’s production of enriched uranium to produce fuel.

But in an interview with Iran’s state news agency on Tuesday, the organization’s former head Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said that Iran’s nuclear issue was “in the 90th minute” and that both Western countries and Iran needed to enter serious talks.

With Rouhani not taking office until early August, analysts say any further nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – are likely to be held before September.

(Writing by Marcus George; Editing by Jon Hemming and Alison Williams)

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

Beginning of the end for Iranian president’s honeymoon period

Financial Times: Complaints about rising chicken prices during the...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you