US downplays trade loophole with Iran, other blacklist countries

AFP
December 25, 2010

WASHINGTON – The United States on Friday downplayed a newspaper report about US firms being allowed to do business with Iran and other blacklisted countries, insisting its sanctions were squeezing Tehran.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The New York Times reported that some 10,000 deals had been allowed under a humanitarian aid loophole approved in 2000 that lets US companies — including food giants Kraft and Mars — get around economic blacklists for countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism.

But senior US Treasury official Stuart Levey said such exports were “trivial in the context of our Iran policy” of using sanctions aimed at the government and military to convince Tehran to halt its nuclear drive.

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“This effort is having its intended impact. Iran’s leadership is worried about its isolation from the international financial system and the other effects of sanctions,” he said in a statement.

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This article was posted: Saturday, December 25, 2010 at 11:29 am

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