Iran banking chief says assets removed from Europe

Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Mahmoud Bahmani, head of Iran’s Central Bank announced that Iran’s bank assets have all been transferred from Europe.

Fars news agency reports that latest European sanctions aimed at freezing Iran’s bank assets will be “ineffective", according to the head of Iran’s Central Bank.

Bahmani said: “The Central Bank had foreseen these events six months ago and taken the necessary precautions.”

He maintained that currently Iranian banks face no problems in terms of Europe’s efforts in freezing their assets.

The head of Iran’s Central Bank stressed: “If the country takes control of its imports, the sanctions will in effect benefit Iran’s foreign exchange reserves.”

Reduction in the consumption of imported goods “is the chief strategy for dealing with international sanctions,” said the head of Iran's chief banking institution.

In June, the European Union initiated sanctions against Iranian banks.

On August 15, executive director of Saderat Bank, Mohammad Jahromi announced that “all the branches of Saderat Bank have now been blocked by Europe.”

However, he added: “In terms of the blocked reserves I must add that our liabilities are several times greater than our reserves. As a result, while the sanctions do not harm our assets, they (the EU) should be concerned about opening up the system in order to receive payments on our debts to them.”