A prominent political analyst has called a great “victory” for Iran a European Union court ruling that called for the removal of the unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s shipping lines and seven other Iranian firms.
“This is a very big victory for Iran and the Iranian companies and economy,” Manfred Petritsch said in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.

On September 16, Mohammad Hossein Dajmar, the managing director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), said that, following months of efforts by Iran, the EU General Court had ruled that the European body’s sanctions against the IRISL had to be lifted.

The European governments now have two months to appeal, and the sanctions will remain in place until a potential appeals process is exhausted.

Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for the EU's diplomatic service said the 28-member bloc would review the verdict by Europe's second-highest court to determine its response.

In 2011, the EU targeted over 30 IRISL holding companies as part of Western-led sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic over the false claim that the Iranian nuclear energy program had non-civilian aspects.

Following the sanctions, several IRISL vessels were temporarily seized in foreign ports.

Petritsch further described as “completely illegal” the US-led sanctions against Tehran, saying that foreign financial firms are “blackmailed” and under pressure from America to make a choice between doing business with Iran and with the US financial sector.
“So, this is a big problem because America does not abide by any rules even if a court and the laws of the country allow this. This has happened many times now in the past,” he noted.
The European court’s ruling on the IRISL comes following the September 8 ruling against the sanctions imposed on the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC).

Also on September 6, the court rejected the sanctions imposed against eight Iranian banks and companies.

At the beginning of 2012, the US and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors aimed at 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 allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

By Press TV

 

The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.