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Iran calls sanction threat empty propaganda
5/9/2006 10:45

Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said yesterday that threats of sanctions from the West are just empty propaganda and weapons of psychological wars, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"We have everything in the Islamic Republic of Iran and we don't need anything to encourage the enemy to talk about sanctions, on the contrary, it is them who are in need of our purchases of their products," Najjar told a press conference.

"If we don't use their products in our country, they will gobankrupt," he added.

The minister said that Iran was not afraid of military sanction either, as "from the early days of our revolution, we have faced sanctions of different sorts. "

The sanctions "led to our progress and our country's development, (and) this has pushed our revolution forward and has caused disappointment for the enemies," Najjar stressed. Meanwhile, Najjar also warned the United States against invasion against Iran, saying this would be a very silly action.

Iran's ranking officials have reiterated their dissatisfaction at sanction threats from Western countries. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed that his country would never give up its right of exploiting peaceful nuclear energy.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July, urging Tehran to suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, or face prospect of sanctions.

On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)chief Mohammed ElBaradei presented a report to the Security Council, saying "Iran has continued enriching uranium despite a UN nuclear deadline for it to suspend or face possible sanctions."



Xinhua News