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Iranian official: Western media acts as supplement to sanctions (UPDATE)

5 March 2013 20:36 (UTC+04:00)
Iranian official: Western media acts as supplement to sanctions (UPDATE)

By Sara Rajabova

Foreign media prevents investors from doing business in Iran, the country's Deputy Economy Minister Behrouz Alishiri was quoted by IRIB News as saying.

"Many foreign investors seek to invest in Iran's markets, however, due to restrictions that have been created, they are unable to do business here," Alishiri said, adding that the media also prevents the investors from working in Iran.

"Western media acts as a supplement to the imposed sanctions," Alishiri said.

He noted that the West tries to confuse other countries by showcasing the state of Iran's economy worse than it actually is.

"In the past four years foreign investments in Iran have grown more than 150 percent," Alishiri said. "Of course, we cannot reveal the methods that were used to increase the investments."

However, recently, Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said that Iran has managed to attract $7 billion of foreign investment during the current Iranian year (March 2012-March 2013), Fars news agency reported. The figure is a 40 percent increase compared to last year.

He also said that 50 percent of foreign investments accounted for the oil and gas sector and 20 percent for other industries, adding that 48 percent of foreign investments had been made by Asian states and the rest came from European countries.

Besides, Deputy Economy Minister Alishiri also noted that the countries that supported sanctions on Iran are actually suffering more than Iran itself.

"Because of the sanctions, Iran was able to achieve certain success, which wouldn't have been achieved under normal circumstances," Alishiri said, adding that Iran managed to get out of the "Dutch disease".

Alishiri also spoke about the effect that the sanctions have on the people in Iran.

"They say the sanctions do not target the people of Iran, they say the sanctions are imposed on the government. This is false," Alishiri said.

"They did not sell Iran aircraft parts, although this is being used by the people. Iran has problems with importing the necessary medicine, which is also used by the people, same as gasoline," he added.

With the impact of international sanctions on Iran, the country started experiencing certain problems with imports of medicines, though the sanctions do not affect such items as food and medicine.

Iran, whose pharmaceutical sector amounts to some $3 billion per year, imports about 30 percent of its medicine and is relying increasingly on China and India, as U.S. sanctions close the door to business with U.S. and European drug firms, whose exports to Iran fell 30 percent in 2012.

In some cases, finding substitute drugs to fight certain diseases, such as hemophilia, cancer, or multiple sclerosis, is impossible because heavily guarded patents make them unavailable except from Western sources.

Iran imported $1.6 billion worth of medicines and medical equipment in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year, which started March 20, 2012.

Iran's medicine imports accounted for $1 million in this period.

The Central Bank of Iran reported last month that Iranian banks allocated $2.8 billion for medicine purchases in the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

The sanctions were imposed on Iran based on the accusation that the country is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. However, Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

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