Ahmadinejad: Iran Will 'Retaliate' Against Sanctions

Tuesday, 16 Feb 2010 07:48 PM

TEHRAN – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday any country that tried to impose new sanctions on Iran would regret its actions, as the United States and Russia voiced shared concern about Tehran's nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad was speaking a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought oil giant Saudi Arabia's support to help win Chinese backing for additional sanctions. Clinton said a new round of sanctions should target Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

"Iran will retaliate ... of course, if somebody acts against Iran our response will definitely be firm enough ... (to) make them regretful," Ahmadinejad told a news conference, without elaborating. "Sanctions will not harm Iran."

In Washington, the White House on Tuesday would not rule out any options -- including a military option -- for dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"I wouldn't rule out anything," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a news briefing, adding that Iran's refusal to engage on its nuclear program was proof that the program "is not of the means and type that they have tried to convince others that it's for."

A joint letter from the United States, Russia and France expressed concern about Tehran's nuclear work and said its decision to escalate uranium enrichment -- rather than implement a nuclear fuel swap -- was unjustified.

Ahmadinejad said talks were still under way on the proposed fuel exchange and the issue was not yet closed.

He did not give details, but Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was visiting Tehran on Tuesday to try to salvage the U.N.-brokered uranium exchange deal amid growing calls for new sanctions against Iran.

"We have passed our own original proposals. We have brought up some ideas to unlock the impasse," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin told Reuters in Ankara.

The State Department said it was not aware that any talks were under way, and repeated that any negotiations would have to take place with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which brokered the fuel swap proposal.

"That is what is on offer. There are no new offers out there," State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told a news briefing.

Western powers had hoped the IAEA proposal would result in Iran sending most of its low-enriched uranium abroad for processing and ease their concerns that it might build a nuclear bomb.

Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, says its nuclear program is solely to generate electricity so it can export more of its oil and gas.

"The case is not yet closed ... we have already announced that we are ready for a fuel exchange within a fair framework. We are still ready for an exchange, even with America," Ahmadinejad said. But he added that such a swap should take place inside Iran, a likely non-starter for the West.

His order last week to start production of higher-grade uranium, rather than agree to the U.N.-brokered swap proposal, exposed Tehran to new calls for U.N. sanctions.

"WHOLLY UNJUSTIFIED"

The Kremlin said on Tuesday Iran could face sanctions if it failed to allay international fears about its nuclear program, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a visit to Moscow, called for "paralyzing sanctions" on Iran.

The joint letter from the United States, Russia and France, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, said Iran's move to escalate uranium enrichment was unjustified because the draft nuclear fuel deal lists guarantees for Tehran's benefit.

"(This) is wholly unjustified ... If Iran goes forward with this escalation, it would raise new concerns about Iran's nuclear intentions," the letter to the IAEA said.

It said the plan for Iran to swap enriched uranium for nuclear medicine fuel had legal assurances it would be fulfilled, contrary to Iran's assertions.

Ahmadinejad said Iran had been willing to send its uranium abroad rather than enrich it further at home, but that it had "found that there is no goodwill in this regard."

He dismissed Clinton's accusations that Iran was moving toward a military dictatorship. The U.S. military budget was 80 times larger than that of the Islamic Republic, he said.

"We don't take her comments seriously," Ahmadinejad said.

He said Iran was not worried about sanctions targeting its gasoline imports as the country could become an exporter of the fuel. "There are several refineries under construction ... and as soon as they become operational we can even export gasoline."

"They (the United States) imagine that they can prevent Iran's oil exports and it is just dreaming. They are not able to do that," he said, saying the United States should instead cooperate constructively with Iran. "The only opportunity they have is to use Iran's capabilities."

2010 Reuters.

"We're just encouraging the terrorists!"

This is like the Mississippi College Choctaws saying they're going to dominate the Crimson Tide.

The Nutjob:

Quote:He said Iran was not worried about sanctions targeting its gasoline imports as the country could become an exporter of the fuel. "There are several refineries under construction ... and as soon as they become operational we can even export gasoline."

He He He..... "accidents happen".....

Ahmadinejad is starting to sound like that gargoyle in N Korea, and why not, Obama is coming across as a weak tool.

(02-17-2010 02:53 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Ahmadinejad is starting to sound like that gargoyle in N Korea, and why not, Obama is coming across as a weak tool.

Tell me again why the libs say Obama's foreign policies are his greatest success. Maybe because ...... compared to his failures which are so monumental and numerous.......

I think Obama's kinder, gentler approach has the potential to bring advantages compared to Shrub's "go it alone" approach. So far, such advantages do not appear to have materialized. I think Obama has gone too far in the other direction.

Two rules for foreign policy.
Treat them with respect.
Demand that they treat you with respect in return.

Shrub violated the first. Obama is violating the second. Neither should be violated. It's a bad thing to violate either one.

(02-17-2010 05:03 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I think Obama's kinder, gentler approach has the potential to bring advantages compared to Shrub's "go it alone" approach. So far, such advantages do not appear to have materialized. I think Obama has gone too far in the other direction.

Two rules for foreign policy.
Treat them with respect.
Demand that they treat you with respect in return.

Shrub violated the first. Obama is violating the second. Neither should be violated. It's a bad thing to violate either one.

Its hard to treat a "President" who is Holocaust denier and a Nation whose official foreign policy calls for genocide of Israel with any respect.

While that may account for 90% of the Arab World, still....

(02-17-2010 05:03 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I think Obama's kinder, gentler approach has the potential to bring advantages compared to Shrub's "go it alone" approach. So far, such advantages do not appear to have materialized. I think Obama has gone too far in the other direction.

Two rules for foreign policy.
Treat them with respect.
Demand that they treat you with respect in return.

Shrub violated the first. Obama is violating the second. Neither should be violated. It's a bad thing to violate either one.

And how do you demand that they treat you with respect? I think Obama's way of handling it really makes Ahmadinejad's extremism more apparent to those in his country, instead of it looking like he's just standing up for his country and not letting the US push it around. And getting the other countries like Russia on board with sanctions is about the best you can do (for now) short of bombing or invading Iran. I don't think Bush would have ever managed it because the other countries were put off by Bush's unilateralism.

Whether it accomplishes anything is another question. But it's not an easy situation no matter how you handle it.

The aspiring genocidist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's stated goal is to create as much chaos to usher in the return of the Mahdi, the 12th imam. He has stated he will be the one to usher in the Islamic messianic era. Hitler spewed his hate and no one did anything about it. Ahmadinejad is spewing his hate and no one wants to recognizes that this certifiable lunatic genocidal maniac is Arming for Armageddon.