Sanctions will not stop Iran nuclear drive: Larijani

Tehran, NU Online
Any fresh international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme will not stop the country' quest to achieve peaceful atomic energy, parliament speaker Ali Larijani said on Wednesday.

"If they issue a hundred other resolutions, it will not stop our peaceful nuclear activities," Larijani was quoted as telling a group of foreign visitors, the state television website reported.<<>br />
Larijani, a conservative and former top nuclear negotiator of Iran, said new sanctions could also make Tehran review its relations with the UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"If you issue a resolution against us, then our position with the agency will change. If you seek deception, we in the parliament will change our conditions with the agency," Larijani said without elaborating.

Last month the United States introduced a draft UN Security Council resolution to impose tough new sanctions on Iran.

The draft reportedly would expands an arms embargo and measures against Iran's banking sector and ban Tehran from sensitive overseas activities like uranium mining and developing ballistic missiles.

Western powers fear Iran's atomic programme is a cover for a nuclear weapons drive. Tehran denies this, saying it is aimed at peaceful energy use, which it insists it has the right to pursue.

Iran is already subject to three sets of UN sanctions for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, one of the crucial steps towards the production of nuclear energy for civil or military use. (afp/dar)