Iran will resist after UN sanctions, government media chief says

A US proposal requiring Iran to surrender all enriched uranium in exchange for a three-month reprieve was not acceptable, said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to Iranian media.

“They want us to hand over all our enriched uranium and in return they give us three months, which is by no means acceptable,” Iranian outlets reported, quoting Pezeshkian before his departure from New York to Tehran.

“If we are to choose between the unreasonable demands of the Americans and the snapback, our choice is the snapback,” Pezeshkian added.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps will continue backing resistance groups across the region, said the IRGC in statement.

The statement was issued Saturday on the anniversary of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s death, coinciding with the UN Security Council’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran.

“The Corps considers support for resistance in the geography of the region to remain on its agenda and regards the continuation of this path until the complete elimination of occupation and the liberation of Jerusalem as a divine, national and unstoppable mission,” the IRGC said in the statement.

“The disturbed dreams and wicked plans of Israel and the United States to weaken or destroy the resistance have repeatedly failed, and this time will yield nothing for the enemies but disgrace and humiliation,” it added.

Remaining in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty no longer has justification under current conditions, Iran's parliamentary economic committee member Jafar Qaderi said in response to the UN Security Council’s decision to restore sanctions.

“The reality is that if we see that international frameworks and institutions practically do not support us or do not recognize our rights, continuing membership in those treaties no longer has the same meaning,” Qaderi said in an interview with Daneshjoo News Agency on Saturday.

He cautioned, however, that leaving the treaty would be a “very sensitive and complex” matter. “This decision should not be made emotionally or hastily. Withdrawal from the treaty has numerous political, economic and security consequences that must be examined at the macro level of the country; but at the same time, this option should not be ruled out in advance,” Qaderi said.

Nuclear talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency should be halted and all cooperation stopped under parliament’s mandate, lawmaker Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.

“Negotiation with the International Atomic Energy Agency must be cut and any cooperation with it stopped in compliance with the parliament’s resolution,” Mottaki said.

Suspending discussions with the three European states should also be considered, he added.

“Suspension of nuclear negotiations with the three European countries must be on the agenda unless they formally recognize the Islamic Republic’s right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil and regard negotiations on defensive capabilities, including missile issues.”

Snapback sanctions will create difficulties for Iran, but the government has prepared responses, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadegh said on Saturday.

“Conditions after the activation of the snapback mechanism will be difficult, but we have appropriate responses.”

The reimposed UN resolutions will have consequences, she added.

“I cannot say the snapback mechanism will have no effect and certainly these six resolutions will have effects, but the Islamic Republic has been bearing maximum sanctions for years.”