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Iran deplores US extension of sanctions

TEHRAN: Iran said on Tuesday it deplored a move by U.S. President Bill Clinton to extend an order banning oil development contracts with the Islamic republic.

"This decision is in contradiction with recent (conciliatory) statements from U.S. officials and shows Washington's lack of sincerity," the official IRNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.

"As we have said before, American companies are to incur the biggest losses from the sanctions," he said.

Clinton said in a statement on Monday that he was extending the ban he first signed in March 1995, saying Iran continued to support "international terrorism and undermine Middle East peace talks".

It is "because the actions and policies of the government of Iran continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," he said.

But IRNA said Asefi had rejected the U.S. charges against Iran as "delusional."-Reuters