Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Hamid Safdel[/caption]An Iranian official says the Islamic Republics non-oil exports increased despite sanctions in the last Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2013.
Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade, Hamid Safdel made the comments on Sunday, IRNA reported.
The total of the countrys foreign trade reached 95 billion dollars in the last year despite sanctions, and the 79-billion-dollar exports grew one percent compared to the year preceding the last year, said Safdel, who is also the director of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization.
The value of exports at the end of year 1391 hit 41.5 billion dollars, andimports hit 53.5 billion dollars, Safdel said.
Iran's main non-oil exports are petroleum gases, liquefied gas hydrocarbons, liquefied propane, methanol, mineral fuels, chemical products, plastics, fruits, nuts, fertilizers, and carpets.
Iran's crude oil is the target of sanctions by the US and the EU.
At the beginning of 2012, the US and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Irans oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.
The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
By Press TV
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