President: West’s Sanctions Help Boost Iran’s Progress

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is in New York to attend the 65th UN General Assembly meeting, dismissed effectiveness of the western sanctions against Tehran, and stressed that such pressures would only speed up Iran’s progress. 

"I am sure that Iran’s economic progress will be boosted by this wrong decision (of the West) because Iranian people know well how to turn threats into opportunities," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with ABC news on Sunday.

"This (sanctions) is an unjust act in international equations," Ahmadinejad added.

After the UN Security Council ratified a sanctions resolution against Iran in June, the United States and the European Union imposed unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, mostly targeting the country’s energy and banking sectors.

The Iranian President, who arrived in the US on the final leg of three-staged trip which also took him to Syria and Algeria, is due to address the participants in the UN meeting.

UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon and US President Barak Obama are among other senior officials who are scheduled to address the high-profile gathering on the first day.

Presidents and prime ministers of 139 countries and foreign ministers of the remaining countries will represent their governments in the summit that begins on September 20.

Delivering a speech at the UN Millennium Development Goals, which will start from Monday, addressing the meetings of Proximity among Religions and Peace Talks and holding talks with the senior officials of various countries are also in Ahmadinejad’s itinerary.

Ahmadinejad is accompanied by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Muhammad Husseini, Minister of Housing Ali Nikzad and a number of his deputies and advisors, including Vice-President for Legal Affairs Fatemeh Bodaqi, Head of Iran’s state television Ezzatollah Zarqami and Head of the Presidential Office Esfandiar Rahim Mashae’i.