Britain calls for new Iran sanctions

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called for new Iran sanctions to “exert pressure” on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Miliband made the remarks on Tuesday, three days after Britain and five other major powers discussed Iran’s nuclear program in New York.

The British foreign secretary said that it would be wrong to give a running commentary on what sanctions could be imposed if the members of the P5+1 group (China, Russia, France, Britain, the United States, and Germany) reach an agreement.

But he told British lawmakers: “We believe that financial sanctions… have an important role to play in exerting pressure at the appropriate points in the (Iranian) regime and not affecting the Iranian people.”

Tehran has repeatedly declared that it will never relinquish the Iranian nation’s legitimate nuclear rights under Western pressure.