WORLD / Middle East
Iranian president: Sanctions won't work
(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-17 09:37
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Friday that new
sanctions won't force Iran to give up its right to enrich uranium, and he
blasted the UN Security Council as an instrument used by "bullying"
Western nations against Tehran.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures during a visit to the 'Cuba
Libre' neighborhood in Managua, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2007. [AP]
"We have achieved the nuclear fuel cycle. We won't give it up under
pressure. You can't stop the Iranian nation from this path through
meetings," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state media.
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But even as he reiterated Tehran would pursue the controversial
enrichment program, he has asked to speak before the UN's most powerful
body on the day the Security Council votes on a new resolution on stepped
up sanctions against his country.
Security Council members have raised no objections to Ahmadinejad's
request, said South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who holds the
rotating council presidency.
"I'm assuming it's going to happen," Kumalo said.
On Thursday, the governments of the five permanent UN Security Council
members and Germany agreed on a new package of sanctions against Tehran
for failing to halt the enrichment which the West fears is used for
nuclear arms making.
The resolution is likely to be approved unanimously after winning support
of the five veto-wielding members. The full Security Council will
consider the measures in coming days though no date has been set for a
vote.
"Enemies have for years been creating obstacles in the way of the
progress of the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad told a gathering in the
central city of Khatam. "By misusing international bodies, they seek to
prevent Iran's progress."
"This nation stands united ... on its rights and won't give in one iota,"
the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.
Ahmadinejad, who has called the Security Council an "illegitimate" body,
urged the United States and its allies not to use it as a political
instrument against Iran.
"I advise you, it is in your interests to get back from this path. The
era of bullying and coercion is over. Your behavior will only result in
accumulating the revolutionary wrath of the Iranian nation," IRNA also
quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in another central city, Tabas.
"Those who think they have power and capabilities and intend to impose
their hegemony on other nations through bullying and selfishness are
making a mistake," he added.
Ahmadinejad is touring the central province of Yazd along with members of
his Cabinet this week as part of a campaign to bring the government
closer to the people, according to IRNA.
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