Iran says sanctions would wreck talks

TEHRAN -- Iran warned yesterday that a likely UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions against Tehran would wreck any possibility for a compromise to resolve the standoff over the country's disputed nuclear program.

France has said a sanctions resolution probably will be circulated at the council by the end of this week. Support for sanctions is growing after weeks of talks between the European Union and Iran failed to persuade Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, insisted yesterday that continuing talks with the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, is ``still possible."

But he warned that ``in the case that a new resolution is passed by the Security Council, we will not be in the current point to resume possible talks."

``Resorting to arm-twisting through the Security Council would be considered a security threat to Iran," he said in an interview with the news agency Mehr.

Larijani said that the West knows its path would incite a crisis, but that Iran is ready for talks.

Iran, which insists that its nuclear program is peaceful, has said repeatedly that it would continue enrichment and that it is not intimidated by the possibility of sanctions from the European Union or the United States.

``Iran will pursue its legitimate right, applying legal and diplomatic means," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Hosseini said yesterday, according to state television. ``Tehran has no doubt of its righteous way."

The United States and some in Europe accuse Iran of seeking nuclear arms; Tehran says its program is aimed at creating energy.