Iran has defied the UN resolution requiring the country to stop the enrichment of uranium by April 28.
“Those who want to prevent the Iranian nation from its rights with these methods must know that Iran does not give a damn about any such directives or resolutions”, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.
If any steps are taken against Iran, the country will react with the same severity, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Saturday.
The Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad-Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said that he did not believe the UN would come with further sanctions, since the oil prices would rise as a result. The oil prices have soared since the beginning of the diplomatic conflict with Iran.
Secretary General of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said that Iran would consider moving the uranium enrichment to Russia and allowing unscheduled inspections, if the UN counsel would send the case back to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the US could pressure Iran outside of the UN to stop its nuclear program.
On CBS’s Face the Nation, Rice said, “I absolutely believe that we have a lot of diplomatic arrows in our quiver at the Security Council and also like-minded states that would be able and willing to look at additional measures if the Security Council does not move quickly enough.”
The Council's five permanent members and Germany will convene in Paris tomorrow, to discuss the course of action regarding Iran.
