Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mehdi Qazanfari condemned the unilateral western sanctions against Iran, and said Iran's economy is strong enough to stand up to embargos.

The bullying powers attempted to put pressure on Iran by sanctions but the government has planned to thwart them by self-sufficiency and resistance economy.

He made it clear that the government upholds self-sufficiency and independence to neutralize the sanctions, and stressed that the national economy is strong enough to prove futility of the sanctions.

Iran is under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions and unilateral western embargos for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment, saying the demand is politically tainted and illogical.

Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.

The US-led West accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Political observers believe that the United States has remained at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for other third-world countries.
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News ID 182636