Iran's foreign ministry spokesman says the slump of Iran's currency and the fluctuation in the stock markets have nothing to do with the newly-announced unilateral U.S. sanctions.

During his weekly press conference, Ramin Mehmanparast lashed out at the new unilateral U.S. sanctions as counterproductive. Concerning the U.S. threats to attack the Islamic Republic, Mehmanparast said the threats are just part of U.S. propaganda scenario.

He said Washington's fresh anti-Iran threats come in the wake of the failure of its policies as well as the sweeping popular uprisings in the region. He said U.S. threats have intensified following Iran's downing of its sophisticated spy drone near the Afghan border last month.

In an interview with Press TV, Nader Mokhtari, a columnist and commentator, shares his thoughts on the issue. Below is the transcription of the interview:

Mokhtari: It is much ado about nothing because according to the Western credit agencies' verdict 14 years ago, the Iranian currency and the Iranian bonds have absolutely no value. So if they have no value, how could they slump, is the question I would like to ask them. If they do have a value, why don't they declare it?

Because then Iranian currency could be traded worldwide and its true value could be declared which may exceed the dollar as things stand at the moment. So this is more amateur dramatics coming from really an America and a Britain that have been left with no answers to do with Iran.

Mokhtari: You cannot deny the fact that the sanctions on the Central Bank, unilateral sanctions the U.S. sanctions, they make life a little bit more difficult but Iran has been through various periods and Iranian economic experts know exactly what to do. The fluctuations inside the country is to do with a shock and awe policy and it is to do with various factions that need to be dealt with in due course but they do make trade a little bit more expensive but there are many ways around it.

The bottom line here is that there is actually a trade war between the U.S. and Europe and the U.S. since it has absolutely no trade with Iran, very little trade with Iran, would like to deny other traders across the world access to the Iranian markets and the profits that they can make via the Iranian market. In other words, Washington is saying if you cannot steal, you cannot make any benefits from the Iranian market. This is what it is all about.

As a matter of fact, it has nothing to do with Iran because Iran conducts no business with the United States; Iran's oil does not go to the Western hemisphere; it goes to the East and if Iran is to receive currency via those channels, not from the Britain and certainly not from the United States.