Governor Sees US Threats against Iran's Central Bank as Bluff

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Central Bank of Iran Governor Mahmoud Bahmani described the US ballyhoo about imposing sanctions against his bank as a big political bluff.
His comments came after some US senators signed a letter to President Barack Obama pressing him to sanction the CBI.

The American legislators claimed that the measure could potentially freeze Iran out of the global financial system and make it nearly impossible for Tehran to clear billions of dollars in oil sales every month.

Bahmani said US officials previously accused the CBI of money laundering and financial terrorism during the 2010 annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington.

"We responded to the accusations in the meeting and proved that the US views the matter purely political so the participants of the meeting accepted the remarks of Iran's delegate and the issue was terminated there," Bahmani explained.

Bahmani announced that he will participate in the next IMF meeting to "defend Iran's banking legitimacy and reject the US accusations".

Iran is not afraid of new sanctions and any move to isolate the country economically will only spur self-sufficiency, he noted.