Iran carpet center to file lawsuit against US after sanctions
Iran will lodge a complaint in the international communities against US move to put Iranian hand-woven carpet on its sanctions list, head of Iran National Carpet Center announced on Saturday.
Hand-made carpet belongs to the Iranian nation and the US President Donald Trump has made a mistake to sanction this Iranian art which is a symbol of culture and intellectual property of the Iranian people, Fereshteh Dastpak told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), about a month ago, expired license for importing rugs, pistachios and caviar from Iran.
As Ms. Dastpak said, everything belonging to a nation cannot be sanctioned according to the international protocol.
She further expressed hope that bans on Iranian hand-woven carpets would be lifted as the country's carpet center is following up the case through international communities.
Iran exports its hand-made carpets to 80 world countries, and the US enjoying about one-third of import of this Iranian product is among the main targets of carpet market.
Before the July 2015 nuclear deal, export of Iranian carpets to the United States was zero. When the international deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed, Iran exported hand-woven carpet to US worth 90 million dollars during March 2016 to March 2017.
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