AFP, TEHRAN: Iran is banning the entry of US consumer goods, the commerce and industry minister said Thursday, as the country prepares for a lifting of economic sanctions. “In order to boost national production, it is necessary... to stop entry of American consumer goods and to prohibit products that symbolise the presence of the United States in the country,” Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh wrote on his ministry’s website. The minister said the measure complies with a letter last month from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to President Hassan Rouhani calling for domestic production to be boosted. Iran and world powers struck a landmark nuclear deal in July that will see a lifting of punishing economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme.