Russia says return of UN sanctions on Iran risk fueling tensions

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country will not surrender or bow to excessive demands after the UN Security Council voted against permanently lifting sanctions on Tehran.

“Last night, they decided to (trigger) the snapback (mechanism). They may close off paths, but minds and ideas create new ones. They cannot stop us…We will never surrender or bow to excessive demands,” he said.

“They can hit Natanz and Fordow, but it is the people who built them and will build Natanz and things far more important than Natanz,” Pezeshkian added.

Iran’s currency weakened on Saturday, slipping to 1,030,000 rials per US dollar in Tehran’s open market, a day after the UN Security Council voted down a resolution to permanently lift sanctions on Tehran.

“The Islamic Republic will definitely deliver a serious, decisive, and unhesitating response,” Iranian lawmaker Alireza Salimi said after the UN Security Council voted down a resolution to permanently lift sanctions on Tehran.

Salimi, a member of parliament’s presiding board, told the semi-official ISNA news agency that Iran had “multiple options on the table, one of which is withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”

"We warn the countries that exploit Iran's goodwill for 'dialogue' and close the doors of diplomacy to themselves that 'maximum pressure' never works, and this time they will regret it harder than ever," said Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh accused Britain, France and Germany of seeking a pretext to escalate tensions after triggering the snapback mechanism to restore UN sanctions on Iran.

“The European troika are providing a pretext for further tensions, and these three countries must be cautious,” he said in remarks to Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen.

“The window of diplomacy is still open, and diplomacy is always more attractive than escalating tensions,” he added.