Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy, Hamid Ghanbari, has played down the likely impact of new US sanctions, arguing that Washington will struggle to exert additional pressure on an economy already heavily restricted by existing measures.
“If the purpose of these sanctions is to change the country’s policies or to put enough pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran to abandon its policies, which are based on laws and the people’s votes, this will not happen,” Ghanbari said, according to Iranian news agency ISNA.
He argued that the latest measures would add little to the restrictions already imposed on Iran’s economy, saying most of its key sectors were already under sanctions.
Given that all “important sectors” of the Iranian economy are already subject to sanctions, Ghanbari said, “we will not see a new sector of the economy that was not previously affected by sanctions being subject to sanctions now.” –Agencies
