Iran not to relinquish 'rights' under sanction pressures

Western sanctions will neither compel Iran to change its policies nor make it relinquish its " rights," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif said, alluding to the pressures put on Iran over the country's controversial nuclear program, local media reported Saturday. "The sanctions put pressures on people but the pressures will not lead to a change in the policies" of the Islamic republic, and "the Westerners need to understand it," Zarif was quoted as saying by Tehran Times newspaper. The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions against Iran's energy and financial sectors to force the country to stop its uranium enrichment activities, which they say are directed at military programs, while Tehran has always insisted on their peaceful nature. Acknowledging implicitly that sanctions bite and the economy of the country is paying tolls, Zarif said during a televised interview that "We are obliged to decrease pressures on people ... sanctions hurt ordinary people, but the people do not expect the country to relinquish its rights." Zarif slammed the West's sanctions as "illegal," saying that Iran is determined to deal with them. "Most of these sanctions do not have a legal basis," he said, stating that on the one hand, "we must prove this to the world," and "on the other, we have to eliminate the grounds for sanctions through deft negotiations in the long term and short term." "Basically, the imposition of sanctions did not have a sound basis from the outset and was a political move. We have to clarify this" to the world, he said. Commenting on the "concerns" over Iran's nuclear program taken as a pretext for imposing sanctions on Iran's economy and nuclear technology, Zarif said "We do not think that nuclear weapons provide security for us. Nuclear weapons have no place in Iran's doctrine, and not only it does not provide security for the country, but also it is a threat to our national security." "We have to make others understand this fact that collective benefits can be obtained only through a win-win game," and "if the West decides to show political will, the solution is close at hand, " Zarif said. In response to the speculations that he would lead possible future talks with major world powers over Iran's nuclear issue, Zarif said "The president and the establishment's senior leaders must make decisions about the extent of the role of the Foreign Ministry in the nuclear issue." "A decision will be made about Iran's nuclear negotiator in the next one or two weeks," he added. Both Iran's new government and the world powers have shown interest for resuming nuclear talks, after the last round of negotiations held in Almaty of Kazakhstan in April did not yield much practical results.