KEY POINTS:
TEHRAN - Iran condemned a UN sanctions resolution as "a piece of torn paper" that would not scare Tehran and vowed on Sunday to accelerate uranium enrichment work immediately.
The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology, in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material to be used in bombs.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said those who backed the UN resolution, drawn up by Britain, France and Germany but supported unanimously by the Security Council, would soon regret their "superficial act".
"It is a piece of torn paper ... by which they aim to scare Iranians ... It is in the Westerners' interest to live with a nuclear Iran," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
"Give up this muppet show. You cannot send secret friendly messages to us and at the same time show your teeth and claws," Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying in a speech at the former US embassy in Tehran.
Iran says its nuclear development, which had been carried out for many years in secret, is intended to produce electricity and denies Western accusations it seeks nuclear weapons.
Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Iran would respond by going ahead with its plans to install 3,000 centrifuges by March at its pilot plant in Natanz. It already has two cascades of 164 centrifuges running.
"We will start our installation activities at the Natanz facility from Sunday," he told the Kayhan newspaper. "It is our immediate answer to the resolution and we will go ahead with full speed."
It was not clear whether work had actually begun on Sunday.
Iran, which refused to end its uranium enrichment work in exchange for economic incentives, says the resolution is an illegal measure outside the council's jurisdiction.
China urged a resumption of talks to defuse the confrontation, while French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy made the same call. "I would not want to see Iran fall into a spiral that would be an isolationist spiral," he said on France Inter radio.
The resolution demands Iran end all research on uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for nuclear power plants as well as for bombs, and halt all research and development on methods of producing or delivering atomic weapons.
The thrust of the sanctions is a ban on imports and exports of dangerous materials and technology relating to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water reactors, as well as ballistic missile delivery systems.
The original draft was amended at Russia's behest to make it less restrictive. A ban on Iran's oil exports was not considered.
While Britain, France and Germany have urged Iran to return to negotiations, the United States sought tougher measures, such as an end to credits for Iran and a halt to arms sales. It urged the Europeans, Russia and China to do the same.
Russia, which is building an $800 million (409 million pound) light-water reactor for Tehran that is exempted in the resolution, has tried to maintain close ties with Iran but is also concerned about any bomb-building intentions Iran may have.
The resolution is under Chapter 7, Article 41 of the UN Charter, which makes enforcement mandatory but restricts action to non-military measures.
The resolution includes a freeze on financial assets abroad of 12 individuals and 10 organisations from Iran associated with nuclear programmes to prevent them from buying dangerous materials. The list is attached to the resolution.
But there are numerous qualifications, including exempting contracts made prior to the adoption of the resolution.
Russia was successful in scrapping a mandatory travel ban. Instead, the resolution now calls on states to notify a Security Council sanctions committee if any of the individuals on the list are in their countries.
The bans would be suspended if Iran stops its enrichment work and rejoins negotiations. They would be lifted if Iran fully complies with Security Council resolutions and directives from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
- REUTERS
