Oil sanctions on Iran will affect world’s economy: Japanese envoy

TEHRAN, Jan. 21 (MNA) – The Japanese ambassador to Tehran said that the imposition of sanctions on Iran’s oil industry will negatively affect the economic situation of the world in general and Japan in particular. “The law ratified in the United States has endangered the situation of Japanese companies, and in the Japanese government’s view, it is very difficult to implement these sanctions,” Ambassador Kinichi Komano told on Thursday. U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a defense funding bill that imposes sanctions on financial institutions dealing with the Central Bank of Iran on December 31, 2011 with the aim of hampering Iran’s crude oil exports. Kinichi said that more than 30 Japanese firms have representative offices in Iran, adding, “All these companies are among large Japanese firms which have representative offices around the world, and hence these companies have representative offices in the United States.” “It should be stated clearly that these companies have more trade interactions with the United States than Iran, and therefore, these centers should take the interests of the entire country into consideration. And these interests are in the United States. Therefore, the law which has been newly ratified in the U.S. has made the situation difficult for Japanese firms,” he stated. Kinichi added, “On the other hand, Iran is regarded as a very important country and as Japan’s friend. And we have now told the United States that oil sanctions on Iran should not have a negative impact on the economic situation of the world and Japan.” “You are aware that economic situation in Europe is not very good. Japan’s economic situation is better than Europe, but Japan’s most important nuclear power plant in Fukushima was damaged in the tragic tsunami disaster and cannot be reconstructed. “So this unpleasant incident compelled the government to examine other power plants in Japan, and for this reason, operations at a number of other nuclear plants have been suspended, and Japan is facing electricity shortages. We have been using our fossil fuel power stations and coal power plants and have increased the capacities of these plants. “As a result, oil and gas consumption has increased in Japan, and if oil imports from Iran decrease at this juncture, problems will be created.”