A top Iranian official Tuesday said that the newly adopted UN sanction resolution of 1747 would have no impact on his country's economy, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"Iran had already been subject to such de facto sanctions," and this could have no impact for the country's national economy, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Davoud Danesh-Jaafari was quoted by IRNA as saying.
The minister also criticized the United States for its role in the adoption of the new resolution, saying "since the United States has been sidelined from Iranian economy, it would bear no burden from sanctions and by orchestrating the economic sanctions.
However, the official said that the sanction resolution would damage the main Iranian trade partners.
UN Security Council Resolution 1747 passed last Saturday, moderately harsher than those included in previous resolutions on the Iranian nuclear issue, call for a ban of Iranian arms exports, a freeze of assets of an additional 28 individuals and entities involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
The resolution calls for voluntary restrictions on travel by the individuals subject to sanctions, on arms sales to Iran and on new financial assistance or loans to the Iranian government.
It also asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report back in 60 days on whether Iran has suspended enrichment work.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, addressing the UN Security Council after the vote, defended Tehran's nuclear program as for civilian use and rejected the new resolution as a "scheme" aimed at "depriving the Iranian people of its inalienable rights."
On Sunday, Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said that his country decided to limit its cooperation with the IAEA.
(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2007)
