US threat 'an insult to UN'

TEHRAN - Iran says a US threat to form an independent coalition to impose sanctions if the UN Security Council fails to act over Tehran's nuclear programme is an insult to the world body.

The Los Angeles Times said on Saturday the US Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, had indicated the US was prepared to act independently with close allies to freeze Iranian assets and restrict trade if the council did not.

The US has called for a swift response if Iran did not heed the Security Council's Thursday deadline to halt uranium enrichment, which Iran says is for power generation but some Western officials say is for nuclear weapons.

"These are just bullying and baseless remarks remarks [by Bolton]," Iranian Government official Gholamhossein Elham was quoted as saying yesterday.

The US planned to introduce a resolution imposing penalties soon after the August 31 deadline if the Islamic Republic's position did not change.

"The road that we have taken is irreversible," Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, was quoted as saying. "Iran intends to produce the nuclear fuel that it is going to use."

Iran has shrugged off the threat of sanctions, saying such a move would propel already high oil prices higher still, hurting the economies of industrialised countries more than Iran.

- REUTERS