UK seeking renewed ban on Iran’s Bank Mellat
Iran Press TV
Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:57PM GMT
The British government is seeking to renew sanctions against Iran's Bank Mellat regardless of a court ruling branding the ban as unlawful, media reports say.
Britain's Treasury is now attempting to intervene in the European Union Council's appeal against a decision by the EU General Court in January to quash sanctions imposed against the Iranian bank, The National reported.
"The Treasury's evidence has been found wanting by the highest court in the UK. These continued actions at the EU are an attempt to maintain sanctions against Bank Mellat by the back door," said Sarosh Zaiwalla, senior partner at the bank’s law firm, Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors.
This comes after reports that Bank Mellat intends to make a legal claim of 500 million pounds against the UK government for loss of business caused by US-engineered illegal sanctions on Tehran between 2009 and 2013.
Earlier on June, Britain’s Supreme Court also overturned a ruling against Bank Mellat over its alleged links to Tehran's nuclear energy program, saying the British government was wrong to have imposed sanctions on the bank.
At the beginning of 2012, the US and the EU imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors, aiming to prevent other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.
The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
The Islamic Republic rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
SSM/HE
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