Speaker Vows Iran’s Response to Any New US Sanctions
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s parliament has devised retaliatory plans should the US imposes fresh sanctions on the country over its peaceful nuclear program, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said.
The legislature has “seriously considered scenarios” to make the US regret if the Congress decides to slap new sanctions on Iran, Larijani said at a press conference in Tehran on Saturday, after a meeting with his Georgian counterpart.
He pledged that a “jump in Iran’s nuclear technology” will occur in case of fresh sanctions, saying Tehran is absolutely capable of doing that.
Larijani made it clear that Iran has already shown the necessary flexibilities in the course of nuclear talks with six world powers, noting that US President Barack Obama’s struggle with the Congress is his own problem and Iran does not have to pay the price for the political infighting in the US.
The speaker reiterated that Iran is controlling the situation, stressing that Washington will be held accountable for possible failure of nuclear talks.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) are in talks to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that if the US Congress imposes fresh sanctions on Tehran, the Iranian parliament will retaliate by adopting a bill to further expand the country's nuclear enrichment level.
The parliament “will adopt something requiring the government... to increase our (uranium) enrichment," Zarif told a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss city of Davos.