European 'Puppets'
Obey Their American Masters to Punish Iran
"We
have not had relations with America for 32 years. In other words, we had no
relationship with them yesterday and won't have one tomorrow. … But we are
surprised by these European puppets, who like impotent servants immediately
repeat whatever their master says."
Iran President
Ahmadinejad welcomes potential investors to Tehran, just as most of the developed world slapped additional sanctions of the country for pursuing nuclear weapons.
TEHRAN: President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that despite newly-announced Western sanctions, Iran
would not back down and is taking steps to hit back at the measures.
"The Iranian nation will
not back down one iota, and in terms of its nuclear program, wouldn’t allow the
slightest encroachment on the nation's rights," the president said in a
speech aired on state television.
In the Majlis,
lawmakers, some shouting "Death to Britain," adopted an emergency
bill calling for the expulsion of Britain's ambassador to Tehran. If the bill
is passed on Sunday and subsequently approved by the Guardian Council, the
law would see British-Iranian ties downgraded to the level of chargé d'affaires.
The bill also calls on the Majlis to take action, "against other nations
that behave in a manner similar to Britain," according to the Fars
and Mehr news agencies.
Sanctions targeting Iran's
financial sector were unveiled Monday in coordinated announcements by the
United States, Britain and Canada. France separately called for the West to
freeze assets of the Iranian Central Bank and embargo Iranian oil.
Britain, Canada and France
have embassies in Tehran. The Canadian is already headed by a mere chargé
d'affaires; the others by ambassadors. The United States has no diplomatic presence
in Iran, having closed its embassy after Muslim students took its diplomats
hostage in 1979 following Iran's revolution. U.S. interests are handled by
the Swiss Embassy.
Ahmadinejad denounced
European countries that are tightening sanctions on Iran as puppets of their
U.S. master and that their moves to isolate Tehran's Central Bank surprised him.
"We have not had
relations with America for 32 years. In other words, we had no relationship
with them yesterday and won't have one tomorrow," Ahmadinejad said. "But
we are surprised by these European puppets, who like impotent servants
immediately repeat whatever their master says."
Russia has called the new
sanctions illegal and China warned on Wednesday thatthe
sanctions would "intensify the confrontation" between the West and
Iran. "China is always against unilateral sanctions against Iran, let
alone the expansion of such sanctions,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin
said at a briefing.
"Fundamentally, we don't
believe that pressure and sanctions can resolve the Iranian issue. Rather, they
will complicate it. Ratcheting-up confrontation is not conducive to peace and
stability in the region,'' Liu said, adding that the parties involved
"should strengthen dialogue and cooperation'.'
China and Russia used their influence
on the U.N. Security Council to block any chance that U.N. sanctions will be
more broadly imposed. Ahmadinejad, speaking to a crowd east of Tehran, took a
swipe at countries that are imposing the sanctions.
"I advise them to cease their
tantrums and give up the delusion that baring their claws and fangs will stop
the Iranian nation," he said. He reiterated that, contrary to Western claims,
"we don't need an atomic bomb."
"They ask us to prove
that we don't have an atomic bomb ... How can we prove something that doesn't
exist? It's as if someone asks another person to prove that he is healthy ... sickness
is something that at least is provable."
Ahmadinejad said, "The
bullying powers attempt to erect obstacles to block Iran’s progress and
development as the country most widely regarded as a harbinger of peace and
justice in the world," he said. "Those whose arsenals are full of
nuclear warheads accuse Iran of attempting to build atomic bombs. They are
forever in search of excuses to obstruct Iran’s nuclear and scientific
progress."
The president said Iran needs
no nuclear weapons because "these are possessed by those who massacred the
native Americans and took control of a country by force." And Ahmadinejad took
a swipe at France's call for freeze on Iranian assets, saying "the
slightest move to grab Iran's assets is akin to a heist - and Iran will treat
the person responsible as a thief. … They have said, "we should cut
relations with the Central Bank and block the wealth of the Iranian people,"
adding that Western countries want to plunder Iranian bank accounts abroad to
ease their own economic crises.
"Expropriating the foreign
exchange reserves of the Iranian people would be a major theft, and the Iranian
people will treat those who do so as thieves," he told a large crowd
gathered at an outdoor venue near Tehran.
Turning to U.S. sanctions,
which declare the Iran's entire financial sector as "primarily a money-laundering
scheme," Ahmadinejad said, "They accuse the Iranian nation of money
laundering. But we have no need for laundering money."
The latest sanctions aim to
make it more difficult to pay Iran for its oil exports, and put pressure on the
Iranian rial [currency].
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But they stop short of
hitting the Central Bank with more draconian measures, because Western
officials and analysts fear these would trigger a spike in oil prices, which
would worsen the global downturn and provide Iran with a revenue windfall.
Iran's OPEC representative Muhammad
Ali Khatibi told the Iranian Student News Agency that his country could
"adopt special postures" in terms of using its vast oil exports as a
political tool if "emergencies and special situations demand." He also
stressed, though, that Iran was not as of now altering its approach in the
global oil market.
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad asserted
that the Islamic Republic seeks to create a new global political and economic
order.
In the opening speech at
Tehran's International Investment Conference, the president said “The Iranian
nation, in all of its political, cultural and economic relations with the other
states, seeks a new global order. … The world is in need of an order based on
justice and compassion and which serves all nations, providing them with a basis
for prosperity, dignity and growth. It is unacceptable that a few uncivilized
people, governments or investors seek to pursue their own interests alone, as all
of society's cultures, thoughts and compassion are destroyed.”
The president said that
economic activity should be geared toward serving humanity and not victimizing relations
and the ties among nations.
Elsewhere in his remarks,
President Ahmadinejad made reference to the significant participation of
foreign investors at the investment conference, describing it as a sign that
other nations disregard the West's unilateral anti-Iran sanctions.