EconomyEuropeIran

EU court annuls sanctions on Iranian Bank Mellat

amiri20130130131956150Europe’s highest court has annulled the European Union (EU) sanctions imposed against the Iranian Bank Mellat two and a half years ago.

“After two and a half years of intense legal work to lift the [EU] sanctions on the bank, [the European] Court [of Justice] has ruled in favor of Bank Mellat,” Managing-Director of Bank Mellat Ali Divandari said on Wednesday.

“The Court has also required the [European] Union to cover the costs of [legal] procedures…and found Bank Mellat deserving of receiving all legal expenses as well as compensation from the EU for losses incurred because of these sanctions,” he added.

Divandari said vague reasons were used by the EU in July 2010 to impose sanctions against Bank Mellat.

“Given the unanimity-based laws governing the European Court of Justice, I am confident that this outcome will positively affect the legal action taken by other banks and economic institutes of the country,” he said.

In December 2012, the Luxemburg-based court had ordered the EU to lift its sanctions against Iranian private bank, Sina.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the EU imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran. The sanctions entered into force last summer.

On October 15, 2012, the EU foreign ministers reached an agreement on another round of sanctions against Iran.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

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