BANGKOK (Dispatches) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed said here Sunday his country cannot do trade with Iran because of U.S. sanctions which he said contravene UN laws.
"Malaysia is now being sanctioned, because we can’t trade with a very big trading (partner) of ours, Iran. Other countries also receive the same treatment,” he told the Malaysian media on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit here.
"So under what law (are sanctions allowed)? They talk so much about the rule of law; they talk so much about rule-based trade, but the very people that talk about this or invented this idea are the same people not adhering to their own principles,” Mahathir said.
Earlier this week, Mahathir revealed that Malaysia had been "pressured by certain quarters” to close the bank accounts of Iranian individuals and companies in Malaysia, believed to be due to the U.S. sanctions.
On Sunday, he said applying sanctions not only hurts the country involved but also negatively impacts other countries that trade with the country sanctioned.
"When you apply sanctions, it is against the law. There is no provision in (the) UN that when a country is dissatisfied with another country, it can apply sanctions on that country as well as other countries that trade with the country being sanctioned," Mahathir said.
He noted that although the issue of sanctions was not mentioned at the summit, it had also affected other countries.
The Malaysian prime minister further said the ongoing U.S.-China trade war was discussed at the summits held Sunday, with leaders expressing concerns over the ongoing spat, which shows no sign of ending.
"They all feel that this is disrupting the growth of their trade and economies,” he said.
"They would like to have a peaceful world, where they can trade with other countries,” he said, adding that should U.S. President Donald Trump be re-elected next year, the trade war could drag on for another five years.