February 22, 2007	Thursday	Safar 4, 1428

TEHRAN, Feb 21: Iran holds less than 30 per cent of its reserves in dollars and will continue to cut holdings in the US currency to the "minimum level" needed to meet payment commitments, the central bank governor said on Wednesday.

"We are distancing (ourselves) from dollars, week by week, or month by month," Governor Ebrahim Sheibani told Reuters in an interview, adding this was a "very natural" response to US pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme.

Washington has slapped sanctions on two big Iranian banks and three firms to push Tehran to stop work US officials say is aimed at building atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.

The UN Security Council has also imposed sanctions on Iran, barring the transfer of technology and know-how to the country's nuclear programme. More steps could follow if Iran is found to have ignored Wednesday's deadline to halt sensitive atomic work.Sheibani dismissed sanctions as "small stumbling blocks" without major effect and said Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter enjoying windfall earnings, was able to offset any costs to business using its own burgeoning reserves.

Iran's reserves were now at the "highest level ... in our history", Sheibani said without giving a total figure except to say they amounted to "tens of billions of dollars".

The central bank does not reveal the size of its holdings or a precise breakdown.—Reuters