Iran remained defiant yesterday in rejecting UN sanctions over its uranium enrichment and said it could review ties with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as world powers said the door was still open for dialogue.
However, diplomats said Tehran was wavering between whether to confront world powers with a hard-line position or opt for talks after it was abandoned by close allies Russia and China, who voted for the measures.
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted sanctions resolution by a 12-2 vote, with Lebanon abstaining and Brazil and Turkey voting against.
The vote drew a scornful reaction from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“These resolutions are not worth a dime for the Iranian nation,” said Ahmadinejad, who had earlier threatened to suspend negotiations with six major powers if the sanctions were imposed.
Speaking in the Tajik capital Dushanbe minutes after the vote, he said he had told world powers “that the resolutions you issue are like a used hanky which should be thrown in the dust bin.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told state news agency IRNA yesterday that the new resolution “will not dissuade the Islamic Republic of Iran from pursuing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.”
“The majlis [parliament] ... will adopt on Sunday a top priority bill which talks of decreasing ties with the IAEA,” Esmaeel Kosari, a member of its committee on national security and foreign policy, told Fars news agency.
Iranian newspapers, both hard-line and reformist, also unanimously denounced the sanctions.
The hard-line Kayhan daily ran a front-page lead headline: “Wait for Iran’s decisive response to illegal sanctions.”
The reformist daily Aftab e-Yazd said: “Now that the West, along with Russia and China, has adopted the path of confrontation, Iran’s response will be strong.”
World powers maintained their dual-track approach of pressure through sanctions alongside negotiations, with US President Barack Obama saying the measures were the “toughest-ever” against Iran, but “do not close the door on diplomacy.”
Russia, however, warned against unilateral action, saying that would be “unacceptable” for Moscow — and despite Ahmadinejad’s vitriolics, some top Iranian officials appeared to be cautious, indicating Tehran’s dilemma.
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