UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. and its allies scored a long-sought victory Wednesday by pushing through new U.N. sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, punishments Tehran dismissed as “annoying flies, like a used tissue.”
The sanctions target Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, ballistic missiles and nuclear-related investments. Oil exports, the lifeblood of Iran’s economy, are not affected because targeting them would have cost the U.S. essential support from Russia and China.
President Barack Obama said the sanctions are the toughest Iran has ever faced. They required several months of difficult negotiations by the five veto-wielding permanent U.N. Security Council members — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France — and nonmember Germany.
This is the fourth round of sanctions aimed at getting Iran into serious discussions on its nuclear ambitions.
“Actions do have consequences, and today the Iranian government will face some of those consequences,” Obama said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the new sanctions as “annoying flies, like a used tissue.”
“We do not recognize sanctions,” he said in Tajikistan, where he is on an official visit.
Tehran insists its program is peaceful and aimed at producing nuclear energy. The U.S. and its allies say Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons; they want Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and start negotiations aimed at ensuring that it uses nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes.
The new resolution bans Iran from pursuing “any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” bars Iranian investment in activities such as uranium mining and prohibits Iran from buying several categories of heavy weapons, including attack helicopters and missiles. Iran, however, already has most of what it would need to make a weapon.
