Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to impose retaliatory sanctions on world powers if the UN Security Council carries out threats to penalize Iran over its nuclear program, state media reported. Ahmadinejad did not specify what kind of tit-for-tat measures might be imposed and Iran — OPEC’s second largest producer — has always insisted it will not use oil as a weapon in the standoff.“We will also impose sanctions on them,” Ahmadinejad told reporters late Sunday in response to a question about a decision by the five Security Council permanent members plus Germany to discuss the prospect of sanctions. “In the past 27 years they have always threatened us with sanctions and during this time they did everything they could,” he said according to the student ISNA and semi-official ILNA agencies. “They do their thing and in return we will do ours.”
Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy needs, vehemently rejecting US allegations that it is seeking to manufacture nuclear weapons. Its right to enrich uranium lies at the heart of the crisis. The process can be used to make nuclear fuel and, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atomic bomb.