Ahmadinejad Warns Against Further Sanctions, Pushes Ahead on Many Fronts

James Phillips / July 26, 2010

Yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a vague threat against U.N. members that try to enforce the June 9 U.N. Security Council resolution that authorized inspections on Iranian ships and aircraft suspected of carrying prohibited materials for Iran’s nuclear or ballistic missile programs: “You should know whoever takes a decision against the Iranian nation, such as the so-called inspection of the Iranian ships or so-and-so toward its aircraft, will immediately receive Iran’s reaction,” he warned in a speech broadcast live on radio.

Ahmadinejad’s warning is part of a heavy-handed Iranian campaign to dissuade the European Union, which is currently considering its own set of sanctions, from ratcheting up pressure on Iran. The director of Iran’s central bank warned on Saturday that Iran would stop trading with countries that enforced the U.N. sanctions. Ahmadinejad has denied that Iran would be affected by sanctions, and he has ridiculed the fourth round of sanctions imposed by the Security Council as a “used handkerchief.” But his government appears to be increasingly nervous about the mounting economic damage Iran has sustained due to sanctions. (more…)