Iran is blocking imports from Britain and South Korea as an apparent punishment for their opposition to Iran's nuclear program, diplomatic and industry sources said yesterday.
Iran said last month it could use trade to punish countries that voted for an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution on referring Tehran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.
"We have received a verbal order from the Commerce Ministry, about a trade ban imposed on South Korean and British companies," said an official at a state manufacturing company, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said the order was due to the two countries' "hostility" towards Iran, such as over its nuclear program which Tehran insists is purely for peaceful purposes.
Presidential chief of staff Gholamhossein Elham refused to confirm the bans, but the semi-official ISNA students news agency quoted him as saying: "Political relations and views definitely have an impact on economic relations."
"Iran's political, economic and cultural relations with other countries are connected to one another and these relations have an impact on each other," he said.
Diplomats said Iran typically does not publicly acknowledge such moves but there was enough evidence to confirm the order had been given.
"Basically it means that goods are being held up in customs, letters of credit for imports are not being granted and so on," said a British diplomat who declined to be named.
Britain, which aside from the nuclear issue is also engaged in a row with Tehran over bombing accusations, has been on the receiving end of such measures several times in the past three years.
"Whenever things get a bit tense, this happens," the British diplomat said.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again linked Britain to the recent bombings in Ahvaz, ISNA news agency reported yesterday.
"No indications have yet been found rejecting our initial suspicions of British involvement [in Ahvaz], especially as terror and creating insecurity is one of the typical tactics by imperialistic countries like Britain," Ahmadinjead was quoted as saying by ISNA.
"We are, however, not in a position yet to make a final judgement, but our security and diplomatic channels are working on the case and will soon announce the final results of the investigations," he said.
Two handmade bombs killed six people and wounded more than 100 others last Saturday in Ahvaz, capital of the oil-rich Khuzestan province near the Iraqi border.
The intelligence service said Tuesday that more than 20 people were arrested in connection with the bombings but gave no further details on the alleged culprits.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
RSS