TEHRAN, March 5 (RIA Novosti) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed on Wednesday the latest sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, saying the new resolution lacked authority.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Monday imposing a third round of economic sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
"From Iran's point of view the latest resolution has no importance or authority, since the UN Security Council's decision in this field has no technical or legal nature," Ahmadinejad said.
"As everybody has seen, the issue of Iran's benign nuclear activity is being politicized, since certain nations are against any progress of our country," he went on.
On Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry said it would continue work on its nuclear program.
"The continuation of this trend [of issuing resolutions] will have no effect on the Iranian people or on the government's determination to pursue its lawful and unassailable right to peaceful nuclear activities," ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.
In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Ahmadinejad said Iran would not discuss its nuclear program with anyone outside the UN nuclear watchdog.
"From now on, Iran's peaceful nuclear program will be discussed only at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) within the framework of NPT regulations and mutual commitments," IRNA quoted the Iranian leader as saying on Wednesday.
Commenting on the new resolution on Iran, the foreign ministers of the six countries - Germany, France, the U.S., Britain, China, Russia - leading international efforts to persuade Iran to freeze uranium enrichment, issued a joint statement urging Iran "to take this opportunity to engage with us all and to find a negotiated way forward."
The diplomatic standoff between Iran and the West, which at times has threatened to take on a military nature, began almost six years ago over suspicions that Tehran was secretly developing atomic weapons. Tehran has always maintained that it needs nuclear technology for electricity generation only. Two previous rounds of UN sanctions were imposed on Tehran in December 2006 and March 2007.
Under the new sanctions, the accounts of certain Iranian companies and banks will be frozen, and goods leaving and entering the Islamic Republic will be subjected to inspections. In addition, travel bans have been imposed on five Iranian officials involved in nuclear projects.
The decision by the UN Security Council to impose a new round of sanctions came despite a report by the U.S. intelligence community late last year stating that Iran had ceased attempts to produce a nuclear weapon in 2003.
