Iran's foreign minister says a new U.N. sanctions resolution aimed at pressuring Iran to curb its sensitive nuclear activities would prove ineffective.
Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday that Western powers pushing for a new resolution should learn that the two previous sanctions resolutions did not work. He said sanctions were popular in the 1960s and 1970s and are no longer effective.
Mottaki also reiterated his government's position that Iran does not need or want nuclear weapons.
Officials from Germany and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China) agreed last week on the text of a third Iran sanctions resolution.
The proposed measure includes a freeze on Iranian assets and a travel ban on specific Iranian officials.
On Friday, France's envoy to the United States, Pierre Vimont, said some non-permanent members of the Security Council want to give the U.N. nuclear agency more time to negotiate with Iran before supporting a new sanctions resolution. He did not name those countries.
The non-permanent members of the Council are Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Indonesia, Italy, Libya, Panama, South Africa and Vietnam.
The Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran for its failure to suspend uranium enrichment - a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons.
The United States and its Western allies accuse Iran of developing technology to produce nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
