IRAN: Embroiled in a nuclear standoff with the West, Iran said yesterday it was moving its foreign assets to shield them from possible UN sanctions, and flexed its oil muscles with a proposal to cut Opec output.
"Yes, Iran has started withdrawing money from European banks and transferring it to other banks abroad," said a senior Iranian official, who asked not to be named. Central Bank governor Ebrahim Sheibani was quoted earlier as saying Tehran had started shifting funds, but he sidestepped a question on whether the assets would go to accounts in Asia.
It is far from clear how placing assets in Asia or anywhere abroad would protect them from being frozen as few governments or major banks would be willing to flout UN sanctions openly.
The United States and the European Union want the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refer Iran to the Security Council at an emergency board meeting on February 2nd.
Russia, China and India, which all have major commercial interests in the Islamic Republic, have urged caution. Anxious to maintain neutrality, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has refused an EU request to speed up a report on Iran's atomic activities in time for the February 2nd meeting.
Officials close to the IAEA said Mr ElBaradei also felt western pressure to refer Iran to the Security Council at the meeting was premature. Diplomats said he had promised the Iranians they would have until the next regular IAEA board meeting on March 6th to meet his demand for better access to nuclear sites.
A US official denounced Iran as a threat to regional and global peace and said it had breached international law. "Iran has overstepped the bounds of international law in seeking to use its facility at Natanz for centrifuge research and enrichment," under-secretary of state Nicholas Burns told a news conference in New Delhi after meeting Indian officials. India advocated restraint, echoing Chinese calls for more talks.
Worries over Iran helped push oil above $67 yesterday and an Iranian proposal to slash a million barrels a day off Opec production from April was not calculated to calm markets.