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Iranians Nurture Ties to Asia to Blunt Sanctions

(AP-Washington Times) Brian Murphy - At one Asian summit this month in Azerbaijan, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reminded the president of Kazakhstan about the vision of a railway linking the heart of Central Asia with Iran's warm ports. At another meeting in Kuwait, he held talks with Tajikistan's leader about their growing trade ties. Even as U.S. and European sanctions tighten around Iran's economy, officials in Tehran are busy reaching out to Asian markets as a critical lifeline. The outreach represents a way for Tehran to seek economic buffers from sanctions in a region where Washington holds relatively limited sway. "Iran has no choice but to turn to Asia for trade" because of Western sanctions, said Sasan Fayazmanesh, an economic affairs expert and head of the Middle East Studies Program at California State University, Fresno. "But that, of course, will not solve Iran's problem of selling its oil since the Central Asian countries, for the most part, do not need Iran's oil."
2012-10-26 00:00:00
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