Iranian official: 'Sanctions are a waste of efforts'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Western powers should not waste time pushing for renewed sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, the Iranian foreign minister said Saturday, arguing that two previous rounds of sanctions have not worked. In late January, the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany circulated a statement containing the proposed elements of a draft resolution to impose more travel bans, frozen assets and other sanctions on Iran. Asked about the proposal on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Ethiopia's capital, Manouchehr Mottaki said: "I think they should learn from the last two steps in this direction. Sanctions is the literature of the 1960s and the 1970s, and does not work anymore." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Iran's nuclear activities will not be deterred by any new UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions.