Minister terms economic sanctions against Iran

Hosseini made the remarks, addressing the 37th annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Khartoum. He also said that the international financial institutes have not paid attention to correct economic views, adding that they have suppressed any justice-seeking attitude because they have turned into a tool for economic dominance over nations. Referring to the economic sanctions imposed on Iran, he criticized the sanctions as illegal moves. Hosseini noted that the world is still suffering from the US economic meltdown as well as Eurozone crisis and its economic growth has declined. Reports released by the international institutes reveal economic backwardness, financial stability, investment risks, rise of inflation and decline in export across the world in 2011, he said. Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry. Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment. After the UN Security Council ratified a sanctions resolution against Iran in June 9, 2010, the United States and the European Union also imposed further unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, mostly targeting the country's energy and banking sectors. Tehran has always dismissed West's pressures, and stressed that sanctions and embargos merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path of progress.