February 12, 2012, 3:57 AM EST
By Ladane Nasseri
Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Iranian Foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the country will never cede to international pressure, the same day President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised to soon announce a milestone in the country’s nuclear field.
“This nation will never ever yield to pressure from outside,” Salehi told reporters in Tehran yesterday. “When you can’t differentiate between people and the government what does pressure mean?”
Ahmadinejad, 55, yesterday announced he will unveil “major nuclear accomplishments” in coming days, the state-run Press TV news channel reported. His comments were made during a ceremony to commemorate the country’s Islamic Revolution.
Allegations about the possible true aim of Iran’s nuclear program have led to tightening economic sanctions. At stake for Iran is the collapse of its $352 billion economy, which would undermine the regime that swept to power 33 years ago; while the U.S. and its allies seek to avert a nuclear arms race in a region that’s home to 54 percent of global oil reserves.
European Union foreign ministers agreed on Jan. 23 to ban Iranian oil imports starting in July and freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank. President Barack Obama Feb. 6 ordered a block on property and interests in property belonging to the Iranian government, its central bank and all Iranian financial institutions. The measures come on top of four rounds of United Nations sanctions against the country of 75 million people.
Salehi on Feb. 10 said threats of a military strike against the country are “empty” and that Iran has already made preparations for the “worst scenario,” state-run Mehr news agency reported. He didn’t elaborate.
If the U.S. were able to take action against Iran, it would have already done so, Salehi said, when asked to comment on remarks by U.S. officials that all options are on the table, according to Mehr.
–Editors: Andrew J. Barden, Inal Ersan
To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at lnasseri@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
