Iran is not afraid of being referred to the UN Security Council over its suspect nuclear programme and could easily withstand economic sanctions, a top national security official said Monday.
"The most America can do to get its way is to impose economic sanctions, but our experience of these over the past 25 years have proved that they are ineffective," said a top member of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Sayed Hossein Mussavian.
"Even if the case is taken to the UN Security Council, nothing more than that (sanctions) can happen. It will fail. It does not worry us," he was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said last Thursday that it was "more and more likely" that Iran would be referred to the UN Security Council as a possible prelude to sanctions.
The United States has accused Iran of wantonly flouting international calls to curb its nuclear activities, saying Tehran is engaged in a "direct challenge" to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The next IAEA meeting is in September. Iran, which insists it has fully co-operated with the IAEA, wants its dossier to be taken off the agenda of the UN nuclear watchdog.
Mussavian also shrugged off speculation that Israel may try to launch military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.
"These threats are baseless, just part of a psychological war. I don't think the Americans and the Israelis would dare to attack Iran's nuclear facilities," he said.
"The Europeans are opposed to that, and America's position in the region would stop them from taking such a risk," he added.
His comments come amid increasing signs of a potential breakdown in relations between the IAEA and Iran.
According to diplomats, talks the European Union's "big three" held with Iran last week on its nuclear programme produced "no substantial progress" in efforts to restrict the Islamic republic's activities.
Officials from Britain, France and Germany met with an Iranian delegation in Paris on Thursday and Friday, and stressed their wish to see a halt to Iran's work on the sensitive nuclear fuel cycle.
Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons, but insists on its legal right to master the fuel cycle for power generation. Being dependent on outside sources for nuclear fuel, Iran says, is not an option.
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