Anti-Iran sanctions affecting other states: Italian ambassador

Italian Ambassador to Tehran Alberto Bradanini says the sanctions against the Islamic Republic have deprived countries with high export potentials of conducting trade activities with Iran.

“Sanctions have apparently been devised and imposed to target Iran but countries which have technologies and commodities to offer to Iran have also been affected by these sanctions,” Bradanini told IRNA on Saturday.

He called on Iran and the West to hold constructive talks to resolve issues and serve their high interests.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union (EU) approved new sanctions against Iran’s oil and financial sectors. The embargoes aim to prevent other countries from purchasing Iranian oil or transacting with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).

The US sanctions took effect on June 28, while the US-engineered EU oil ban against Iran was enforced as of July 1.

Washington and the EU claim that the bans are meant to pressure the Islamic Republic to give up its nuclear energy program, which they claim includes a military aspect.

Iran dismisses the charge, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The Italian envoy to Iran also made reference to the trade ties between Tehran and Rome, the volume of which stood at about seven billion euros in the previous year, and noted that the figure showed a slight decrease during the first six months of 2012 due to a small decline in Italy’s exports to Iran.

The diplomat emphasized that both sides enjoy considerable potential to raise trade exchanges, saying Iran and Italy are complementary countries in the fields of trade and commercial cooperation.