Iran lost billions to individuals because of sanctions: FM
By Trend
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has described the past sanctions days as very harmful to his country, saying because of the sanctions the country lost huge amounts of money to individuals it trusted.
“We were forced in order to bypass the sanctions to entrust $35 billion to certain individuals who we don’t know how wasted the money,” Zarif told ISNA news agency May 2.
Under a set of harsh sanctions, which were in place from 2012 to 2016, Iran could not receive the money it should have for the oil it sold to other countries. As a result, it chose some people as trustees to carry the money under their own name. As a result of such deals, Babak Zanjani grew to fame as a super billionaire. But he betrayed the country by embezzling stupendous amounts of the money and is now waiting his death sentence execution in a prison in Iran.
Zarif added that under sanctions Iran also had to change money to currencies other than the US dollar, which itself imposed great loss.
Now, the foreign minister noted, thanks to the nuclear deal and removal of sanctions, Iran is paid directly for the oil it sells and is able to attract finance for the projects it plans to carry out.
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