Iran carpet firm shrugs off U.S. sanctions threat

By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's carpet industry does not fear possible U.S. sanctions against one of the country's main export earners as buyers would be able to circumvent such an import ban, a senior executive said on Sunday.

"We have no worries," said Jalal Eddin Bassam, managing director of the state-owned Iran Carpet Company. The Persian carpet would "find its way" into the United States, he said.

The famed Persian floor covering may be under pressure from lower-cost Asian rivals copying traditional patterns, but Bassam suggested it retained its attraction for wealthy Westerners looking for special quality and raw materials.

"People prefer to buy expensive Persian carpets rather than cheap Indian or Pakistani carpets in America," he told Reuters in his office in downtown Tehran where rugs in elaborate designs adorn the marble floors.

As part of U.S. efforts to pressure the Islamic Republic to halt sensitive nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making atomic bombs, proposed new legislation would reimpose a total ban on Iranian imports, including carpets.

If the bill sponsored by California Democrat Tom Lantos becomes law it would reverse a "goodwill gesture" by former President Bill Clinton in 2000 that allowed in rugs, and certain other goods, from the homeland of the Persian carpet.

The draft, which won overwhelming approval from a congressional committee in June, also would force President George W. Bush to impose sanctions on energy firms dealing with oil-rich Iran. The measure still needs approval by the U.S. Congress.