Iran Says Sanctions Not To Impact Nuclear Ambitions

Mottaki

Iran sent a letter to the fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday saying that the newly imposed sanctions on the country would not impact its nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki wrote that the Islamic Republic "considers that the adoption of such (UN) resolutions will not affect its utterly peaceful nuclear programme," the IRNA news agency reported. He added that Iran is even "more determined" to develop its nuclear program.

One June 9, twelve members of the Security Council, including the five permanent members, voted in favor of imposing a fourth set of sanctions against Iran for its controversial uranium enrichment program.

Mottaki thanked Turkey and Brazil for "resisting the pressure of some specific nations and voting against the resolution."

Mottaki also criticized the European Union for their support, warning of "dire consequences in the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the European Union." The EU's decision "will definitely cause far greater losses for the European Union itself rather than for the Islamic Republic of Iran as this is amply demonstrated in all previous statistics," he wrote. The EU "will practically deny itself of the potentially strategic cooperation of a powerful and influential partner in the sensitive region of the Middle East and Persian Gulf."

The United States and European Union have accused Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and have called on the Islamic Republic to freeze its uranium enrichment activity. Iran has maintained that its nuclear ambitions are for peaceful purposes only. Mottaki reiterated that Iran's "nuclear weapons have no place in Iran's defence and security policies."

"Let us hope that the European Union will not succumb to U.S. pressures to march on a wrong path that will only produce everlasting shame before the free-minded nations of the world," Mottaki wrote.