UPDATE 3-Iran cenbank to sell 45 bln euros -media
* Plan would reverse Iran policy of shunning dollar
* Moving away from euro payments for oil exports - newspaper
* Euro dips slightly vs dollar
* Some mkt scepticism over Iran's dollar-buying capacity
TEHRAN, June 2 (Reuters) - Iran's central bank will sell 45 billion euros from reserves to buy dollars and gold, state-owned media said on Wednesday, signalling a u-turn on a long-standing policy to limit exposure to the currency of its most powerful enemy.
The website of broadcaster Press TV quoted a report in Jam-e Jam newspaper, in which unnamed "reliable sources" said the decision, to be implemented by late September, had been taken in response to the euro zone's debt crisis.
The euro was little changed after the reports, easing slightly from $1.2227 to fluctuate around $1.2200 as some market players concluded Iran might struggle to buy such a large quantity of dollars.
"Central bank foreign currency experts ... believe that this economic crisis in Europe is getting worse and will lead to a further fall in the value of the euro and will increase the value of the dollar," the paper said in its Monday edition.
"This plan aims, gradually, during the next four months, to convert around 45 billion euros into dollars."
The report said it "seemed that" the first of three phases, a sale of 15 billion euros, started "at the beginning of this (Iranian) month", which began on May 22. The operation would be complete by the end of summer, it said. In Iran that is considered to be Sept. 22.
Officials at the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran declined comment. The bank usually does not announce such decisions.
Iran also does not usually disclose the value of its reserves, though state television reported last December they exceeded $80 billion. Jam-e Jam said the new policy move would reduce the proportion of euros in Iran's total reserves to between 20 and 25 percent from a previous 55 percent.
"WORTHLESS"
Appearing to give precedence to economic factors over ideology, the switch would be a major policy reversal for Tehran, which for many years has shunned the dollar as part of its opposition to Washington.
At a 2007 OPEC summit, Iran -- the world's fifth-largest oil exporter -- suggested oil should be priced in a basket of currencies rather than dollars, but it failed to win over other member states except Venezuela.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters at that time the dollar was a "worthless piece of paper".
At recently as last November, central bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani said Iran's then policy of moving away from the dollar, both in its reserves and in the currency it received for its oil exports had been beneficial. [ID:nDAH340738]
Press TV reported at the time that since late 2007, 85 percent of Iran's oil income had been in currencies other than the dollar and that it aimed to increase that to 100 percent.
Jam-e Jam said the central bank would now "encourage" a complete reversal of that policy.
"For those organisations which receive the most foreign currency, it is strongly recommended to minimise their trades in euros," it said. "The most vivid example of this issue is the significant reduction in the acceptance of euros for the sale of Iran's oil."
Traders said the news was having limited impact on the euro, and some in the market were sceptical about whether Tehran would be able to buy significant amounts of dollars, given that U.S. depository institutions are banned from processing transfers involving the country.
A new draft of Iranian sanctions under discussion at the U.N. Security Council cites the central bank in a paragraph calling on U.N. member states to be vigilant in all transactions with Iranian banks to ensure they are not linked to Tehran's nuclear or missile programs.
But the new sanctions would not blacklist the central bank completely -- a proposal that was rejected by Russia, China and Germany, who feared it would make it impossible to do any business with Iran.
Bahmani made a first hint that Iran would move away from the euro last month.
"Considering that the value of the euro is plummeting and that of the dollar is increasing, we will be examining the issue of changing the composition of Iran's hard currency basket," he was quoted as saying in the May 18 edition of Hezbollah daily. [ID:nLDE64H0B3]
Wednesday's report on the sale broke after official sources told Reuters that some of the world's richest central banks would continue investing in Europe's ailing single currency, supporting its reserve status despite the sovereign debt crisis plaguing the region.
The liquidity of both the euro and the dollar and the difficulty of switching large portfolios to other currencies mean there are no alternatives to them in the near term, the sources in Brazil, India, Japan and South Korea said in separate interviews. [ID:nLDE6510EO]
(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; editing by John Stonestreet)
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THEREFORE, MIDEAST NATIONS NEED TO HAVE PERMANENT IMPARTIAL VETO WIELDING MEMBER AT UN SECURITY COUNCIL NOW !!!. IT NEEDS A CHANGE NOW
U.S. policy on nuclear Iran underscores bias toward Unbreakable bond Israel,
AFTER IRAQ WITH NEVER BEEN FOUND WMD, IT IS CLEAR BY NOW US ANTI IRAN TIRADE
RHETORIC DOUBLE STANDARD IS ONLY ON BEHALF OF UNBREAKABLE BOND ISRAEL, NOT THE
NON PROLIFERATION TREATY OR THE WORLD, TO MAKE SURE THAT ISRAEL IS THE SOLE
NUKES POSSESSOR IN MIDEAST. HISTORY PROVES ITSELF.
THERE IS NO SINGLE CREDITABLE EVIDENCE THAT IRAN FLOUTS THE NPT RULES OR DEVELOPS NUKES.
US AND ZIONIST MEDIA USING PROPAGANDA LIES TO CREATE ILLUSION AND MAKE BELIEVE THAT IRAN IS TO DEVELOP NUKES.
US NEVER CLEARLY STATES WHAT IRAN HAS DONE WRONG WITH NPT.
Washington’s “double standard” on Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), while selling “nuclear technology to Israel and India,” a non-signatory to the NPT.
US continues its annual $3 billion assistance to Israel, despite an American law forbidding aid to any country producing weapons of mass destruction. Not only did ISRAEL THREATEN TO SEND SYRIA BACK TO STONE AGE BUT ALSO Israel offered to sell apartheid-era South Africa nuclear warheads in 1975.
Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is at the moment
FULLY in compliance with it, has no nuclear arsenal, and does not even have a
nuclear weapons program. (The treaty allows countries to enrich uranium for fuel, which is all that Iran
is known to be doing). NPT signatories have treaty-based rights to seek civilian energy production, either by enriching uranium or separating plutonium.
Article IV: 1. Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty.
2. All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Parties to the Treaty in a position to do so shall also co-operate in contributing alone or together with other States or international organizations to the further development of the applications of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, especially in the territories of non-nuclear-weapon States Party to the Treaty, with due consideration for the needs of the developing areas of the world.
In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
With more than 200 nuclear weapons and the capacity to deliver them against its enemies or use them to buttress its policies, Israel refuses to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty or to open its nuclear facilities for International Atomic Energy Agency inspection. On the other hand, Israel and the United States insist on applying the harshest possible sanctions against Iran, which they fear may be developing nuclear weapons. The United States furthermore is responding to a regional initiative to make the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction by linking it to progress in the peace process, which means a peace customized by and suited especially to meet Israel’s interests, naturally, because Israel is the sole nuclear power in the region. In promoting this deal, imposed by a nuclear Israel on a much weaker region, the United States is affirming that it certainly pays to be a nuclear power — you get things done on your terms — It is making mockery of other nations when the white house spokesman says Iran must assure THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. In fact more than hundred countries support Iran’s right to nuclear technology UNDER NPT but the white house spokesman and the media do not consider that number of countries as international community. Only the bullies are entitled speak for other countries.
INDONESIA CERTAIN IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME NOT FOR DEFENCE PURPOSES.
OIC backs Iran nuclear declaration
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has backed an Iranian declaration which aims to end a standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.
UN SECURITY COUNCIL SHALL REJECT IRAN SANCTION FOR THE SHAKE OF PEACE, NOT FOR WAR ON BEHALF OF US AND UNBREAKABLE BOND ISRAEL. INSPECTING IRANIAN VESSELS ON HIGH SEAS LIKE NORTH KOREA IS AN ACT OF WAR BUT IRAN HAS NOT TESTED NUKES.
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