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Iran-US trade hit $16mn in January

13 March 2011 04:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The United States Census Bureau has announced that the volume of trade transactions between Iran and the United States stood at $16 million in January 2011, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The latest figures and statistics of the Census Bureau said that despite the US-engineered sanctions imposed on Iran, the United States exported $15.9 million worth of goods to the Islamic Republic in January.

However, Iran only exported $100,000 worth of goods to the United States in the month.

The volume of US exports to Iran stood at $31 million during the corresponding period last year, and Iran exported $6.3 million worth of goods to the US in January 2010.

Meanwhile, a recent report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has called the UN sanctions imposed on Iran ineffective.

DIA Director Ronald Burgess said the punitive measures "are not stopping Iran’s drive to enrich uranium."

He also noted that it is highly unlikely that Iran would launch a preemptive attack, stating that Tehran most likely would not initiate or provoke an international conflict.

The US and its Western allies accuse Iran of developing a military nuclear program. In June 2010, the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions targeting Iran’s financial and military sectors under Western pressure.

Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted the charges, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has the right to access nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes.

In addition, all of the reports issued by the IAEA on Iran’s nuclear activities verify that there has been no diversion in the country’s civilian nuclear program.