Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that the Western sanctions against Iran are "only a little brake" that will not stop the country from pursuing its nuclear program, dpa reported, while another senior Iranian official called the sanctions ineffective.

"You (West) are doing everything such as oil (embargo) and currency (halt on bank transfers) to stop the will of the Iranian nation but this might only be a little brake which will not stop us from continuing our move," the ISNA news agency quoted President Ahmadinejad as saying.

Meanwhile, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Fereydoun Abbasi Davani said that Iran will not cave in to external pressure and halt 20-percent uranium enrichment, Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday.

He said that Iran will continue work on enriching uranium to this grade whenever necessary.

Rejecting Western concerns over secret weapons projects, Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and in line with international regulations.

However, Western countries continue to insist that Iran is seeking to produce an atomic bomb.

Therefore, the U.S. and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors in a bid to prevent other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

Besides, last week the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on seven Iranian companies and five nuclear experts for contributing to the country's nuclear energy program.

The sanctions by the Western countries, aimed to push Tehran to change the stance on its nuclear program, have in recent months led to an economic crisis in the country, dpa reported.

However, senior officials, including the Iranian president, deny the negative impact of the sanctions on Iran.

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini on Tuesday that the US-engineered sanctions imposed on Iran have proven ineffective, Press TV reported on Wednesday. He said the Iranian nation now is more experienced than before to weather the sanctions and therefore the US efforts will be futile.

Despite Iran's denying the negative impact, the damage caused by the sanctions on its economy is obvious.

Thus, Iran's oil and gas exports and, as a result, the revenues, have fallen in the wake of the Western punitive action.

Iran's Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini confirmed that Iran's oil export revenues have halved.

The amount of the lost petroleum export revenues is above the volume of the country's total imports in 2011.

Iran has lost an estimated $60 billion worth of revenues directly and indirectly (custom duties, etc.) from the sanctions on its petroleum export, while Iran's legal import in 2011 was $58 billion.

In addition to the drop in Iran's petroleum revenues by 50 per cent, a loss occurred in customs revenues.

Due to the sanctions Iran's national currency also dropped in value by 50 per cent and the country experienced a currency crisis during the current year.

The sharp fall in the currency rate has caused difficulties with import for Iran. Thus, Iran is in debt to Turkmenistan for importing gas worth $1 billion. It faces challenges with paying its Central Asian neighbor for the imported gas.

Turkmenistan has suspended gas export to Iran several times. However, the two countries have signed a gas-for-equipment barter deal. According to the newly signed agreement, Iran will be importing gas from Turkmenistan, and in return it is to supply Turkmenistan with equipment for the gas and oil industry.

Earlier Iran signed such agreements with other governments. Iran and Armenia inked an agreement in February 2011 on supplies of electricity in exchange for gas. Armenia is expected to supply 2.4 billion KW/h of electric power in exchange for 801 million cubic meters of Iranian gas.

The sanctions have affected the health sector in Iran as well. Iranian media reports indicated that medicine prices in the country had risen and some types of medicine were rare, and it was impossible to obtain medications needed for some diseases due to the sanctions.

Essentially, the impact of the sanctions is seen in all areas of activity in Iran, especially in the economy and healthcare.

Although Iranian officials insist that the country is developing and the sanctions are ineffective, the facts show the contrary.