Iran says UAE should not bow to US pressures

The United Arab Emirates should not bow to US pressures to take
anti-Iran measures, Iranian First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi
has said.

The UAE is under increasingly intense pressures from
the United States to curb trade with Iran, the vice president was quoted
as saying.

Currently, the US Obama administration and its
European allies are seeking assurances from major oil producers, such as
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, to increase exports to the European
Union and Asian nations if tighter sanctions on Tehran's energy exports
and central bank are enforced in the coming months.

Meanwhile,
Rahimi rejected reports that Iran has cut trade ties with the Persian
Gulf country. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on
Tuesday denied earlier reports that Iran had suspended trade
transactions with the UAE, according to the ministry's website.

Iran's
semi-official Mehr news agency reported earlier Tuesday that Iranian
Minister of Industry, Mines and Commerce Mehdi Ghzanfari ordered to stop
all kinds of trade transactions with the UAE late Monday.