Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on Sunday that the new UN Security Council resolution adopted Saturday with tougher sanctions against Tehran on its nuclear issue is "illegal and unjustifiable."

"We believe that the resolution is illegal and unjustifiable and is not within the framework of the UN Security Council's tasks, " the official IRNA news agency quoted Hosseini as saying.

Hosseini expressed his regret over the issuance of Resolution 1747 by the UN Security Council on Iran's nuclear program, saying that the council acted in such a way that it damaged the UN Charter and international laws.

He claimed that efforts made by the UN Security Council to encourage Iran to withdraw from its legal and legitimate right were made under pressures of certain powers inside the council.

Such resolutions not only do not represent the demands of the international community but also will lead to dissatisfaction of the global community with the role and duties of the Security Council, Hosseini said.

Describing Iran's nuclear program as "peaceful", Hosseini also voiced Iran's readiness to hold "unconditional and time-tabled negotiations" in order to remove any ambiguities regarding its nuclear program.

Resolution 1747, cosponsored by Britain, France and Germany and incorporating some of the amendments proposed by Indonesia, Qatar and South Africa, urges Iran to suspend uranium enrichment work " without further delay."

The new sanctions, moderately harsher than those included in previous resolutions on the Iranian nuclear issue, call for a ban of Iranian arms exports, a freeze of assets of an additional 28 individuals and entities involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

In the previous resolution, adopted last December, the Security Council ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs.

The new resolution calls for voluntary restrictions on travel by the individuals subject to sanctions, on arms sales to Iran and on new financial assistance or loans to the Iranian government.

It asks the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report back in 60 days on whether Iran has suspended enrichment work.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, addressing the council after the vote, defended Tehran's nuclear program as for civilian use and rejected the new resolution as a "scheme" aimed at "depriving the Iranian people of its inalienable rights."

Source: Xinhua