Iran defies fresh EU sanctions
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UN Security Council adopted last month a resolution on the Iranian nuclear issue, prohibiting Iran from investing abroad in nuclear and enrichment operations, imposing new restrictions on Iran's import of conventional arms and allowing the Iranian ships in the international waters to be inspected.
Iranian Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani said that the sanctions cannot break Iranian nation's will of gaining access to "peaceful" nuclear energy, Press TV reported on Wednesday.
"These efforts (of sanctioning) have no impact on the will of the Iranian nation," Larijani said.
"European sanctions on Iran are fragile," an influential Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Hossein Farhanghi said Wednesday.
Islamic Republic will not slacken and will not hesitate about its policies and considers such sanctions as chances for development and dependence on its own capabilities, Farhanghi was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying.
Following EU's sanctions against Iran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that "sanctions will bear no fruit but promote self-sufficiency for the Iranian nation, " said Press TV.
Also on Wednesday, the Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Karami-Rad downplayed the latest EU sanctions and said "despite the ongoing sanctions during the past years, Iran has had the maximum limit of trade with Europe," according to Press TV.
"The contracts Iran has signed in the field of industry and business with various countries illustrate the ineffectiveness of the sanctions," said Karami-Rad.
"Since Iran enjoys a geo-strategic status in the (Middle East) region, different countries including the European countries need to interact with Iran," Karami-Rad was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said in the southern Iranian city of Assalouyeh in Bushehr Province on Wednesday that Tehran "will raise its daily gasoline output to 170 million liters in four years" and then "will turn into a gasoline exporter."
"Iran presently faces no problem in meeting its gasoline needs, " Mirkazemi was quoted as saying by Press TV, undermining the sanctions imposed on Iran's energy sector.
On Tuesday, Boroujerdi said that the West should first discard the carrot and stick policy prior to any dialogue on Iran's nuclear program, local media reported.
"The EU's call for the continuation of nuclear talks with Tehran is in direct contradiction to its recently approved package of anti-Iran sanctions," he was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency.
Any new round of talks should put an end to the handling of Iran's nuclear dossier in the UN Security Council and submit it to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Boroujerdi said, adding the West's seeking sanctions against Iran while calling for dialogue is unacceptable.
EU foreign minister's Monday sanctions against Iran follows U.S. President Barack Obama's July 1 endorsement of a new sanction bill into law, which was described by him as "striking at the heart" of Iranian government's nuclear ability.
Western countries have accused Iran of pursuing a military objective in its nuclear program. Iran denies the allegations, saying it has the right to peaceful nuclear technology as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
