Iran dismisses U.S. sanction threat

Iranian government spokesman Gholam- Hossein Elham dismissed on Monday a U.S. threat to act independently with allies to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear issue if the UN Security Council failed to do so after an Aug. 31 deadline.

"Such remarks are an obvious insult to the United Nations Security Council. They are just bullying remarks," Elham told a weekly press conference, adding, "The statements showed that these people are not qualified to be a member of the Security Council."

Late last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said that the United States planned to introduce a resolution imposing penalties such as a travel ban and asset freeze for key Iranian leaders soon after the deadline, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He seemed optimistic that China and Russia would agree to it once they saw the text, but in case the two countries do not accept it, Washington would seek a parallel diplomatic track outside the United Nations, the report said.

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

Iran has rejected the resolution as having no legal basis.

Source: Xinhua