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Iran worried
about the interests of american taxpayers, how philanthropic! 

Envoy says U.S. Iran policy hurts American taxpayers 06:51 p.m Jun 17, 1998 Eastern UNITED NATIONS, June 17 (Reuters) - Iran's U.N. ambassador said on Wednesday that U.S. policy toward his country was out of sync with the rest of the world's due to a ``Cold War mentality.'' He also said the U.S. Congress hurt American taxpayers by barring access by American oil companies to comparatively inexpensive Iranian oil. Ambassador Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian's remarks were in a speech prepared for delivery to a policy forum in Washington organised by Middle East Insight magazine. The United States, which accuses Iran of sponsoring terrorism, trying to acquire nuclear weapons and opposing the Middle East peace process, has since the 1979 Iranian revolution pursued a policy of trying to isolate the Islamic republic. Nejad-Hosseinian said Iran's neighbours, regional powers, European nations and the United Nations, as well as Asian countries, had ``appreciated Iran's positive roles'' in the region. ``However, there is one country which is not in tune with the rest of the world, and that is the United States.'' Many American officials ``tend to view Iran and the region with a Cold War mentality,'' he said. ``The Cold War mindset translates itself in some baseless allegations and futile projects,'' he said, including labeling Iran as a sponsor of terrorism, plans to beam radio broadcasts into the country and denying its anti-drug activities. Despite the U.S. Congress's Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) aimed at deterring investment in those countries' gas and oil industries, ``Iran has been successful in attracting foreign investments for its oil and gas projects,'' the ambassador said. Under pressure from the European Union, the Clinton administration had waived sanctions against foreign companies investing in Iran, and the ILSA resulted in ``nothing more than depriving American companies'' of participation in those projects, he said. Nejad-Hosseinian said that more than half the oil consumed in the United States was imported and the cost of production from Iran was among the world's least expensive. ``Then it stands to reason to argue that rather than hurting Iran economically, the U.S. Congress has, in fact, hurt American taxpayers by barring the access of American oil companies to comparably inexpensive oil,'' the ambassador said. 

Desert Man