Iran warns Clinton over sanction remarks

In reaction to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks on Iran’s nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned Sunday about the consequences of “tension-seeking” American policies.

“We believe the world public opinion should be concerned about tension-seeking US policies and their consequences on regional and international peace and stability,” Mottaki told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Mottaki was reacting to the recent remarks made by his American counterpart, Hilary Clinton, on Tehran’s nuclear program. He said Tehran does not take her comments “seriously.”

“Clinton’s efforts to take the US back to the time of the unsuccessful policies of [former President George W.] Bush will bear no fruit for the American people and the new administration,” he said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has been faced with the hostile approaches of certain US officials during the past three decades but has always tried to maintain peace and stability in the region,” he said.

In unusually blatant remarks aimed at China, Secretary Clinton on Friday assailed the country for not joining the US-led front in imposing fresh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear work.

Clinton said she understood China’s unwillingness to impose new penalties on Iran, one of the country’s biggest oil suppliers in the world, but warned against “longer-term implications” if Iran did not stop its nuclear program.

“We understand that right now it seems counterproductive to you to sanction a country from which you get so much of the natural resources your growing economy needs. But think about the longer-term implications.”

Mottaki, meanwhile, said sanctions and threats cannot prevent Iran, which has always committed itself to regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), from seeking its inevitable right to peaceful nuclear technology.