A defiant Iran announced it has begun pulling its foreign currency accounts out of European banks to protect its assets from possible UN sanctions over its nuclear program.

EMBROILED in a nuclear standoff with the West, Iran said yesterday it was moving funds out of Europe to shield them from possible UN sanctions and flexed its oil muscles with a proposal to cut OPEC output.

Iran is moving its foreign exchange reserves out of European banks as a protection against any possible UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, the Central Bank Governor said today.