Tehran, Iran – Iran on Tuesday denounced the new European Union sanctions as “inhuman,” vowing they will not force any retreat on the country’s suspect nuclear program.
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The remarks by Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast amplify Iran’s insistence that it can ride out Western economic pressures aimed at reining in Tehran’s uranium enrichment.
The West and its allies fear the process could lead to nuclear weapons development, a charge Iran denies, saying its nuclear ambitions are only for peaceful purposes.
The 27-nation on bloc Monday banned imports of Iranian natural gas and imposed other restrictions on trade and financial dealings. Previous Western sanctions have targeted Iran’s critical oil exports and access to international banking networks.
Mehmanparast told reporters Tuesday the new EU measures will not force Iran to back down from enriching uranium to make nuclear fuel. He called the sanctions “illegal, unwise and inhuman.”
“They cannot force the Iranian nation to surrender and withdraw,” said Mehmanparast. “This sort of acts will encourage the Iranian nation to continue on its way, strongly.”
He said the nuclear issue is merely a pretext since the West had imposed various sanctions for decades on Iran.
“It is pretty clear that Iran’s persistence on its independence is the main problem” for the West, he said.
At a meeting with EU ambassadors in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the European Union for imposing what he called “tough sanctions” against the “greatest threat to peace in our time.”
Netanyahu observed Tuesday that while the sanctions were “hitting the Iranian economy hard,” they haven’t yet halted the Iranian program.
“We will know that they are achieving their goal when the centrifuges stop spinning.”
Inhumane?
So is scaring the &#’+ out of Israel!
Why don’t they assert their independence and stop depending on money and goods from the western infidels. Under the great leadership of their supreme leader and president Armidinijad, they should have no need for trade with foreign nations.
Inhumane; they should know their leader is inhumane and his mouth is even worst.However don’t worry obama will give their leader what he wants since he blocks most of the sanction
The way you deserve
Iran is one crap place that the world would never miss if it was obliterated off the face of the earth, along with their mullahs, fatwahs, ayatolohs,hibabs and islamic nut jobs.
” Illegal, unwise and inhumane.” Might all be true. But what a joke its is, coming from a government is consistently breaking the law, unwise and inhumane with its own citizens.