Iran says petrochemical exports to Europe continue despite U.S. sanctions

Iran says petrochemical exports to Europe continue despite U.S. sanctions
The managing director of Iran's National Petrochemical Company said exports of petrochemical products to Europe will certainly continue despite the newly approved sanctions by the United States, local Tehran Times daily reported Wednesday.

Iran has managed to circumvent sanctions of the United States and the European Union in the past three decades, and under any conditions the exports will continue, Abdolhossein Bayat said.

Statistics show that the Islamic Republic exports annually some 2 billion U.S. dollars worth of petrochemicals to 17 European countries, Bayat was quoted as saying.

In July, Bayat said that the annual value of Iran's petrochemical exports was expected to reach 14 billion U.S. dollars by the end of the current Iranian year, ending on March 20, 2012.

The United States and its allies, Britain and Canada, announced new sanctions against Iran Monday, in the wake of a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that expressed concern over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in Washington that U.S. President Barack Obama has signed an executive order that for the first time specifically targeted Iran's petrochemical industry. The order also expanded sanctions on Iran's oil and gas business.

English.news.cn   2011-11-23 16:36:02 FeedbackPrintRSS
TEHRAN, Nov. 23 (Xinhua)