"Taking into account that these illogical anti-Iranian decisions are being taken in an atmosphere of injustice and under pressure by a highly circumscribed group of representatives from the international community, those who initiate them will, first and foremost, harm themselves, not Iran," Manouchehr Mottaki said.
He said that Iran had consistently and in good faith used all of its diplomatic leverage to prevent the adoption of anti-Iranian resolutions by the Security Council, cooperating as necessary but upholding its sovereign right to pursue a civilian nuclear program.
"Today, we see that the weapons the West uses against the Islamic Republic [sanctions] are ineffective," he said.
The international community, led by the United States, has been demanding that Iran demonstrate the peaceful nature of its nuclear program by halting its enrichment of uranium and accepting international inspections. Iran has continued to insist that it needs enriched uranium to generate electricity.
The UN Security Council recently passed Resolutions 1737 and 1747 calling for a moratorium on uranium enrichment by Iran and providing for sanctions with respect to its ballistic missile program.
Iran responded by condemning the resolutions as "illegal." In April, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that Iran had progressed from experimental to industrial scale uranium enrichment.
Nevertheless, recent initiatives by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, have yielded some Iranian compromises in recent months.
In late July, it readmitted inspectors to its Arak heavy water reactor, and Ahmadinejad was quoted by local media at the time as saying: "Our achievements in the nuclear sphere belong to the entire world. The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to present these achievements to IAEA member states under the IAEA charter."
Ahmadinejad said his country would continue nuclear research for civilian purposes, in accordance with its rights under international law.
A delegation from the IAEA arrived in Tehran Monday for a new round of talks. The UN body was represented by Deputy Director Olli Heinonen, and the Iranian delegation was led by deputy chief nuclear negotiator Javad Vaeedi, vice secretary of the country's security council.
ElBaradei said the talks were held in a constructive tone and had good prospects for success. IAEA experts, who left Tehran Wednesday, returned to the nuclear watchdog's headquarters with a final draft plan for gradually resolving the international community's unanswered questions over Iran's nuclear program.
"The international community must be sure that Tehran's nuclear activity is under IAEA control," he said.
The Egyptian diplomat said he hoped the situation would be resolved through dialogue. "Attempts to resolve the problem through military means could prompt Iran to launch a program to create nuclear weapons even if the country had not previously developed such plans," he said.
He cited Iraq as an example: "We can see from the example of Iraq that military interference has exacerbated the problem rather than solved it."
