Iran Summons Envoy to Protest US Sanctions
VOA News
01 October 2010
Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran to protest U.S. sanctions imposed on eight Iranian officials who Washington says participated in human rights abuses.
Iranian state media quoted a foreign ministry official Thursday as saying the U.S. sanctions constitute a misuse of the concept of 'human rights' and interference in Iran's domestic affairs. The Islamic Republic has no diplomatic relations with the United States and U.S. interests in Tehran are handled by the Swiss embassy.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama signed an order imposing sanctions on eight Iranian officials accused of rights violations following the country's disputed 2009 presidential election.
The order specifies that any assets the eight Iranians have in the U.S. are subject to seizure and bans Americans from doing business with anyone on the list, including Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari. The order says forces under his command participated in "beatings, murder and arbitrary arrests" of peaceful protesters following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in June of last year.
On Thursday the United States imposed sanctions on a Swiss-based company linked to Iran's energy sector.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg called the latest move aimed at convincing Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions "a significant setback to Iran." The United States announced that it has placed Naftiran Intertrade Company -- a subsidiary of Iran's national oil company -- on a financial blacklist.
The State Department also announced that it will not be imposing sanctions on four large international companies that pledged to stop investing in Iran's energy sector. Those companies include Total of France, Statoil of Norway, ENI of Italy and Royal Dutch Shell of Britain and the Netherlands.
The United States and other global powers are pressuring Iran to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful. Iran denies charges that it is trying to secretly develop nuclear weapons.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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