Tehran: Iran's central bank will confront new
US sanctions with "strength," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said on Sunday, a day after US leader Barack Obama signed into law
extra measures against the institution.
"The central bank is the backbone of dealing with the
enemies' pressure and it must with strength and
self-confidence have the solidity to eliminate all of the
enemies' plots," he told an annual assembly of the bank's
senior officials, according to a statement on the presidency
website.
"We should protect the people and the nation against the
enemies' plots so people are not pressured," he was quoted as
saying.
Ahmadinejad added that "currently there is no particular
problem in the economic sector," discounting the effects of
previous sanctions.
The new US sanctions seek to further squeeze Iran's
crucial oil revenues, most of which are processed by the
central bank.
Under the measures, foreign firms will have to choose
between doing business with the Islamic republic or the
economically mighty United States.
The sanctions, meant to punish Iran for its nuclear
programme, were contained in a mammoth USD 662 billion US
defence bill. Obama signed them into law despite reservations
they would ties his hands on setting foreign policy.
Iranian leaders and military officials have warned that
such sanctions could push them to close the strategic Strait
of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf.
Twenty per cent of the world's oil passes through the
strait, making it the "most important choke point" globally,
according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Iranian naval forces are currently conducting a 10-day war
games near the strait.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 01, 2012, 22:03