DUBAI, Sept 20 (Reuters) – President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that Iran would overcome any reimposition of sanctions through a so-called “snapback” process, after the U.N. Security Council voted not to permanently lift sanctions on Tehran.
“Through the ‘snapback’ they block the road, but it is the brains and the thoughts that open or build the road,” Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by state television.
“They cannot stop us. They can strike our Natanz or Fordow (nuclear installations attacked by the U.S. and Israel in June), but they are unaware that it is humans who built and will rebuild Natanz,” Pezeshkian said.
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The Security Council move came on Friday after Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process last month to reimpose sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies having any such intention.
“We will never surrender in the face of excessive demands because we have the power to change the situation,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by state media.
The “snapback” process would reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran unless an agreement is reached on a delay between Tehran and key European powers within about a week.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council separately warned on Saturday that the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency would “effectively be suspended” if the U.N. sanctions were reinstated.
Earlier this month, Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said they had reached a deal on resuming inspections at sites including those bombed by the U.S. and Israel but gave no specifics.
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The snapback would reimpose an arms embargo, a ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing, a ban on activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, a global asset freeze and travel bans on Iranian individuals and entities.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom. Editing by Hugh Lawson and Mark Potter)
