US Acknowledges ineffectiveness of Sanctions against us: Iran

Tehran, Jun 22: Iran dismissed as ineffective the sanctions imposed by certain western countries against Iran, and said even Americans who have sponsored those embargoes now acknowledge that the measure is futile at the best.

"In a meeting in the US on the level of the effectiveness of sanctions against Iran's economy, one of the prominent American figures acknowledged that sanctions against Iran are ineffectiveness," Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Undersecretary Ali Baqeri said yesterday.

He quoted the American figure as saying that Iran's economic progress is like a bus moving ahead speedily on a highway and sanctions are like a dog chasing the bus and trying to catch it.

"The dog will at best reach the bus but will not be able to stop it," Baqeri said, citing the American figure.

Despite the hostile policies and moves of the United States and its European allies, Iran has shown a promising trend of growth in science and economy.

The US-led West accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians'' national resolve to continue the path.

Political observers believe that the United States has remained at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for other third-world countries.

PTI (FNA)