Iran fighting 'smart economic war': Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iran is engaged in a "smart economic war" with Western powers whose sanctions against its nuclear programme are hurting some Iranians, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.

"Targeted sanctions, which the enemies say are supposed to be crippling, have led to a drop in our oil" sales, Ahmadinejad said in a live interview on state television,

referring to an oil embargo imposed by the European Union.

"They do not even let us transfer the oil money," he said. "They thought Iran's economy would break down, but it did not."

"Iran is engaged in a smart economic war with the enemy," he said.

The EU measure, which came into effect in July, ended European purchases of Iranian crude, and has since decreased Tehran's oil exports to its Asian customers from between 10 to 30 percent.

According to the International Energy Agency, Iranian exports in November were estimated at 1.3 million barrels per day, down from nearly 2.3 million last year.

Ahmadinejad said his government had "so far managed to control" the effects of sanctions on the economy but admitted that "heavy pressure had been exerted on some Iranians because of sanctions."

He did not elaborate on how Iran was fighting off sanctions for fear the methods would be found by Western powers trying to goad Iran back to the negotiating table over its nuclear ambitions.

"I cannot say what heavy pressure the enemy has imposed, and how we are dealing with them."

"We have so far managed to control this blow, and it hasn't turned out the way they predicted," he said.

Ahmadinejad has faced increasingly scrutiny at home for economic woes, including the collapse of the national currency, which lost more than two-thirds of its value in a

20-day span starting in late September.

Iran's economy is struggling to cope with the gradual tightening of sanctions by the United States and the European Union over the past two years.

... contd.

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