Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham dismissed yesterday a US
threat to act independently with allies to impose sanctions on Iran over its
nuclear issue if the UN Security Council failed to do so after an Aug. 31
deadline.
"Such remarks are an obvious insult to the United Nations Security Council.
They are just bullying remarks," Elham told a weekly press conference, adding,
"The statements showed that these people are not qualified to be a member of the
Security Council."
Late last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said that
the United States planned to introduce a resolution imposing penalties such as a
travel ban and asset freeze for key Iranian leaders soon after the deadline, the
Los Angeles Times reported.
He seemed optimistic that China and Russia would agree to it once they saw
the text, but in case the two countries do not accept it, Washington would seek
a parallel diplomatic track outside the United Nations, the report said.
The Security Council adopted a resolution late July urging Tehran to suspend
by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including
research and development, or face prospect of sanctions.
Iran has rejected the resolution as having no legal basis.
