TEHRAN, Aug 27, (Agencies): Iran has withdrawn assets from European banks in an attempt to evade international sanctions over the Islamic state’s disputed nuclear programme, a senior Iranian official said on Friday. The United States, United Nations and the European Union have imposed a series of new restrictions on Iran earlier this year over its nuclear enrichment activities, which the West fears could lead it to make a bomb. Iran says it needs nuclear technology to generate power. “Assets of Iranian banks have been withdrawn from European banks ... Iran’s Central Bank ... was prepared for any such scenarios since six months ago,” Mahmoud Bahmani, head of the Central Bank of Iran, told the semi-official Fars news agency. He gave no details on where the funds might be heading or exactly when the transfers had been made. US President Barack Obama on July 1 signed a law imposing tough new sanctions on Iran’s banking and energy sectors.

Analysts say Switzerland, home to more offshore wealth than any other country, could be a possible destination for Iran’s foreign assets. Other possible destinations include banks in Asia and the Middle East.
There are few figures available on the size of Iranian overseas holdings but moving them would have major implications for financial markets.
Earlier this month, Bahmani said Iran had increased its foreign currency reserves by $9 billion by selling gold and through foreign exchange transactions.
However, he did not disclose the total amount of Iran’s reserves, nor did Bahmani specified how much gold was sold or over what time period.
Iran has warned it would stop trading with countries that imposed restrictions on its assets abroad in the face of tightening international sanctions.
The fourth round of UN resolution calls for measures against new Iranian banks abroad if a connection to the nuclear or missile programmes is suspected, as well as vigilance over transactions with any Iranian bank, including the central bank.

The country’s hardline authorities say sanctions have no impact on the Islamic state and have found ways to adapt to them.
“Iranian banks face no difficulties because of the imposed sanctions ... Such restrictions have no impact on our banks,” Bahmani said.
He did not say how much money was involved, what its destination was or when the transfers took place.
“We will address the needs of our people during sanctions, since the Central Bank predicted the situation six months ago,” he added.
On June 9, the UN Security Council hit Iran with a fourth set of sanctions over its nuclear programme. The United States and European Union have since imposed even tougher punitive measures of their own.

Leading Iranian banks have been specifically targeted by the international community, with the United States sanctioning Mellat, Melli, Saderat and Export Development Bank of Iran, accusing them of financing weapons proliferation.
The EU measures include a ban on the sale of equipment, technology and services to Iran’s energy sector, hitting activities in refining, liquefied natural gas, exploration and production.
New investments in the energy sector are also banned.
The Iranian banking sector was also hit by restrictions, forcing any transactions over 40,000 euros ($51,000) to be authorised by EU governments before they can go ahead.
On Aug 8, Bahmani said Iran must cut imports to overcome the sanctions, which target Iran’s banking, financial and energy sectors.

Two days later, First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Iran would limit its purchases from the European Union, which amounted to 11.4 billion euros, or 27 percent of Iranian imports in 2009, according to EU statistics.
He said this would mainly affect food imports, such as wheat and soybeans.
Iran is accused by world powers of seeking atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian programme. It is under security council sanctions for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment — the process that can be used to make nuclear fuel but also the fissile core of an atom bomb in highly purified forms.
Tehran strongly denies this.