Leader promises Iran is ready to retaliate

“This is a punishment for them so that they will learn the protocol of talking to other nations,’’ Ahmadinejad said during a press conference, responding to a fourth set of Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which calls for searches of suspect Iranian vessels.

“Anybody who insists on implementing this will regret this very harshly,’’ he said of such searches. “We reserve our right for retaliation and defending ourselves.’’

A Revolutionary Guards commander on Saturday threatened that Iran might respond to such searches in the Hormuz Strait, a narrow waterway accessing the Persian Gulf, the world’s biggest oil hub.

On Thursday, Congress approved more harsh unilateral US sanctions punishing foreign firms that provide the Islamic Republic with gasoline. Due to domestic shortages, Iran needs to import 5.8 million gallons of gasoline daily.

Ahmadinejad said that Iran “laughed’’ at such measures. “They think Iran is some island in the ocean,’’ he said.

Ahmadinejad said his country could increase its needed production in a week’s time and is able to halve its domestic gasoline consumption within a day.

On the dormant talks over Iran’s nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said Iran would not be willing to return to broad talks until about halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, or late August.

He did stress that Iran was still willing to discuss a deal on a swap of nuclear fuel it needs for a research reactor that produces medical isotopes. Turkey and Brazil in May restarted talks on this issue, but the deal they struck with Tehran was turned down by the United States.

Ahmadinejad said Iran has conditions for world powers to return to broader talks, demanding that the United States and other nations state their positions on Israel’s alleged possession of nuclear weapons, vow to uphold the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and state whether they are friends or foes of Iran. He also hinted that some members of Iran’s negotiating team will be changed.

“They should also know that it will not be talks between those powers and Iran any longer; other groups will be attending the talks, too,’’ Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad also scoffed at assertions Sunday from CIA director Leon Panetta that Iran had enough material to make two nuclear bombs.

He said stockpiling nuclear weapons was “politically retarded’’ and warned over possible accidents with the United States’ own vast nuclear stockpile.

“A country that cannot cap an oil well, how can they stockpile thousands of atomic bombs inside the US and other countries?’’ he asked, referring to the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

He offered the help of Iranian experts to contain the breach.

The new UN sanctions against Iran call for an asset freeze of 40 additional companies and organizations, including 15 linked to Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and 22 involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities.

The resolution bans Iran from pursuing “any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.’’

The sanctions, the fourth set imposed by the United Nations, follow last year’s push to get Iran to accept a UN-drafted plan to swap its low-enriched uranium for higher-enriched uranium in the form of fuel rods, which Tehran needs for a medical research reactor.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.