Iranian Shahrvand-e Emrouz weekly magazine on Monday quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsen Talaie as saying part of Iran's assets in banks in Europe has been converted to gold and securities, and the other part has been transferred to Asian banks.
"No Iranian assets or deposits have been withdrawn or will be withdrawn from European banks to Iran or other countries," said Ali Divandari, managing director of Bank Mellat, a leading Iranian state-owned bank.
"There is no reason for such a transfer," he added.
The European Union is expected to approve new financial sanctions against Iran, targeting in particular Bank Melli, another major Iranian state bank.
On Monday, Britain's prime minister said his country would freeze the assets of Iran's largest bank and would try to convince Europe to follow suit.
"Britain will urge Europe, and Europe will agree to take sanctions against Iran," Gordon Brown said, speaking at a news conference with U.S. President George W. Bush in London.
Tehran again refused to suspend uranium enrichment after a June 14 package of incentives was offered by six world powers, to help Tehran develop a civilian nuclear program and avoid further sanctions.
The country is already under three sets of relatively mild UN Security Council sanctions for defying demands to halt uranium enrichment, which it says it needs purely for electricity generation despite Western accusations that the program is geared toward weapons production.
Tehran insists that it will use its right to civilian nuclear research and technology.
