An EU court has ruled the sanctions against Iran’s Saderat Bank are null and void. The court had also ruled that sanctions against Mellat Bank, another Iranian Bank, were also unjustified.
Reuters reported on Wednesday February 6 that European countries will have to end sanctions against Saderat Bank because the court had ruled that there is no sound evidence to prove a connection between this bank and Iran’s nuclear program.
The Mellat and Saderat Banks have been boycotted by the EU since July of 2010. The two banks had filed suit with the European court to challenge those sanctions.
Western countries have imposed severe sanctions on Iran, justifying their actions as a move to deter Iran in its nuclear program.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and it has a right to it as an NPT signatory.
The U.S. and EU have imposed severe sanctions on Iran’s oil sector; most recently, according to new U.S. sanctions, payments for Iranian oil cannot be transferred out of a country. Therefore, buyers of Iranian oil can only deposit the cost of their purchases into a bank account in their country but cannot transfer it abroad.
