Iran: New U.S. sanctions 'psychological war'

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran dismissed the new U.S. sanctions yesterday, calling them part of a "psychological war" meant to sow discontent among Iranians and insisting they would not halt the country's nuclear program.

Washington ordered the new penalties Monday, giving U.S. banks additional powers to freeze assets linked to the Iranian government and close loopholes officials say Iran has used to move money, despite earlier restrictions imposed by the U.S. and Europe.

The United States and its allies suspect Iran's nuclear program is geared toward producing an atomic bomb. Iran insists its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes.

Rejecting the latest sanctions, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran's central bank has no U.S. financial transactions and would not be affected.

"Many of these [U.S.] activities are in the sphere of psychological war and propaganda, and they cannot affect our work," he said in Tehran. "When they impose sanctions on our central bank even though we have no transactions with them, it shows . . . they think they are able to put pressure on our people, create concerns and social discontent," he added.

Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi pledged, "Iran will make the sanctions ineffective as it did in the past, and it will continue selling oil," the official IRNA news agency reported. Iranian lawmakers are pushing ahead at the same time with a bill to cut off oil sales to Europe before a punitive EU embargo takes effect.