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Tehran defiant as UN passes tough Iran nuclear sanctions

The United Nation's Security Council voted to impose a fourth set of Iran nuclear sanctions today. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the sanctions were useless, and vowed that Iran's nuclear program will not be deterred.

Iran quickly dismissed a fourth set of UN Security Council sanctions, imposed on Wednesday to further restrict Iran鈥檚 nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

鈥淭hese resolutions have no value鈥�. It is like a used handkerchief that should be thrown in the waste bin,鈥� Iran鈥檚 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told journalists while visiting Tajikistan.

The new Iran nuclear sanctions were hailed by President Barack Obama as "the toughest ever faced by Iran," but Iranian officials vowed to press on with their nuclear program.

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UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said that 鈥渘o amount of pressure and mischief鈥� would deter the Islamic Republic from pursuing what it says is a peaceful nuclear energy program. 鈥淚ran is one of the most powerful and stable countries in the region, and never bowed 鈥� and will never bow 鈥� to the hostile actions and pressures by these few powers.鈥�

As the latest round of UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions appeared increasingly inevitable in recent weeks, the Islamic Republic fought back with devil-may-care rhetoric鈥攁s well as frenetic diplomacy aimed at finding more friends.

鈥淧olitically, it will be a great blow,鈥� says an Iranian journalist in Tehran who asked not to be named for security reasons. 鈥淲e are now moving away from gray and moving into the black-and-white phase; the political alignments will become more clear now.鈥�

"Iran is losing Russia, China, and all those countries that matter," the journalist says. "Its dollars can no longer buy political credit [because of] the great isolation it faces鈥�. This has brought great, and visible, fear to Iranian officials.鈥�

When the vote came on Wednesday, the United States blasted what it called Iran鈥檚 鈥渃ontinued recklessness鈥� over its nuclear program, and spearheaded 12 votes in favor of sanctioning 40 more Iranian businesses, banks, and shipping companies 鈥� double the number of the three previous sanctions votes combined.

Toughest

Voting 鈥渘o鈥� were Turkey and Brazil鈥攏onpermanent UNSC members that had brokered a May 17 deal with Tehran to export half of its low-enriched uranium, as a confidence-building measure. Both nations prefer diplomacy to sanctions. Lebanon abstained.

In recent weeks, senior Iranian officials have been hurriedly dispatched to distant capitals, from Austria to Uganda and Turkey to China, to lobby each of the 15 members of the UNSC, with the exception of the United States, an arch foe of Iran for 31 years.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that brandishing the 鈥渟tick鈥� of a UNSC sanctions vote would mean that Iran would not take part in future nuclear negotiations. He said the nuclear swap offer, the full details of which have not been worked out, was a one-time 鈥渙pportunity.鈥�

Just hours before the sanctions vote, the US, Russia, and France presented the UN's nuclear watchdog agency with a list of nine concerns it had about the tripartite nuclear swap deal 鈥� an agreement very similar to one the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) put to Iran last October.

Iran has dismissed the impact of UN sanctions dating to 2006, which have targeted an array of institutions 鈥� from banks to universities, many with links to the powerful Revolutionary Guard 鈥� that are connected to Iran鈥檚 nuclear and missile programs.

Sanctions have not so far forced Iran to comply with the key international demand: a suspension of its uranium enrichment program until the IAEA is satisfied Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran denies wanting to make a nuclear bomb.

Sanctions helping Iran?

Iranian officials sometimes crow that sanctions have heightened the country's self-sufficiency. In addition to nuclear sanctions, the US has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution ousted the pro-Western Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

鈥淚ranian state media [has been] playing it up, with Ahmadinejad literally saying 鈥榖ring it on,鈥� says a young Iranian professional who left Iran a few days ago, and asked not to be named. 鈥淭hey are saying: 鈥楾his is development for us; we鈥檝e gotten so far [despite past sanctions].鈥� And to be honest, we have.鈥�

That can-do spirit stems from the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The men who now constitute Iran鈥檚 hard-line leadership believe that they repelled a 1981 invasion from Saddam Hussein鈥檚 Iraq, which received US, Soviet, and European support over eight years of war, through ingenuity and faith.

鈥淭hey used all their power, [and brought] all their resources to the battlefield to defeat or weaken the Islamic Republic, and what was the result?鈥� Iran鈥檚 supreme religious leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in a speech last Friday. 鈥淭he world saw with amazement the emerging of the Islamic Republic with a much, much stronger defensive military capability."

鈥淲hatever arm they鈥檝e cut off [with sanctions], we鈥檝e grown two; that鈥檚 the Iranian way,鈥� says the professional. 鈥淪tate media was able to play this very well鈥�. The public doesn鈥檛 know what [sanctions] cover, doesn鈥檛 remember what it covers, doesn鈥檛 know the effects 鈥� it just knows the US is bullying us.鈥�

Both Brazilian and Turkish ambassadors, explaining their no votes before the council, said further sanctions would not convince Iran to halt its nuclear programs, and were more likely to have the opposite effect.

But US Ambassador Susan Rice said the sanctions were 鈥渁imed squarely at the nuclear ambitions鈥� of Iran, and provided 鈥渋mportant new tools.鈥� The purpose was to 鈥渃hange the calculation of the leadership of Iran."

鈥淭he animosity between Iran and the US 鈥� and the depth of it 鈥� has become quite clear now,鈥� says the journalist in Tehran. 鈥淜hamenei鈥檚 speech [last Friday] clearly indicated what we already knew, that there will never be any mending of ties with the US, simply because [the Islamic Republic] was founded on the principle of US defiance. He clearly said: 'If we do anything that appeals to the US and the West, it means we have done something wrong and we should rethink our actions.' "

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