Updated on
Summary
After months of campaigning to avert new UN sanctions, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad summed up his case and dismissed the threat of further economic penalties over his country's nuclear program. Experience has proven that sanctions cannot stop the Iranian nation, Ahmadinejad told reporters at a hotel across from U.N. headquarters, where a month-long nuclear treaty conference was in its second day. While we do not welcome sanctions, we do not fear them either, he said. It seems to us that the structure of the Security Council is undemocratic and unjust, and is unable to bring about security. This Security Council will completely lose its legitimacy, he added. Despite Iran's defiance, major powers on the 15-nation United Nations Security Council appear resolved to seek further sanctions. Now, Ahmadinejad the sole head of state to attend the once-every-5-years Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty conference argues any new sanctions would mean that U.S. President Barack Obama has given up on his campaign to engage Iran diplomatically.We feel that the U.S. government will be damaged, more than us, by those sanctions, he said. It's very clear that if the United States starts another sanctions (regime) against Iran, it means that it's the end of Mr. Obama's effort. It means Mr. Obama's submission. It means no change will occur.
