Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr.24/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran exported over 2.1 million tons of tar worth nearly 1.1 million dollars in the previous calendar year, which ended March 20, Director of Iranian Customs Administration Abbas Memarnejad said on Wednesday.
The figures show 46 percent increase in comparison to its preceding year, the ILNA News Agency qouted Mamarnejad as saying.
Petroleum tar was Iran's third most exported item in the previous year, he added.
At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors.
The sanctions, which prevent the EU member states from purchasing Iranian oil or extending insurance coverage for tankers carrying Iranian crude, came into effect on July 1, 2012.
The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.
Iran says that as a committed signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
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