(dpa) - The Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki insisted Wednesday that the recent UN Security Council resolution strengthening sanctions would have no impact on Iran's economic development although he regretted the move.
In a press conference in Geneva he repeated Iranian assertions that sanctions would be ineffective as Iran had contracts all over the world worth tens of billions of US dollars.
A report last month by the International Atomic Energy Authority, IAEA, confirmed progress by Iran in complying with international scrutiny although it was unable to prove conclusively that its nuclear program was entirely peaceful as Iran claims.
Mottaki said: "There is no rational relation between the report of the IAEA and the approval of the resolution. He added: "All justifications and foundations for the UN Security Council's actions have vanished."
Pledging to continue co-operation with the IAEA, he said all the questions raised by the agency had been settled within the given timescale.
"The activities of Iran are peaceful, we do not want anything but our legitimate right within the regulations of the agency," he said.
The UN had imposed a third tranche of sanctions Monday, imposing a deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.
Mottaki said the illegitimate use of the international bodies would not force Iran to return from the decisions it had made for itself.
He also called for a total ban on nuclear weapons, urging action by the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament.