FM TERMS ANY SANCTION ON IRAN AS ‘HOSTILE’

Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran
Dec 17 2006

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Sunday that Tehran will
consider imposing sanctions on Iran by the UN as ‘hostile’.

He made the remarks in a joint press conference with his Armenian
counterpart Vartan Oskanyan.

Referring to any sanctions against Iran as "ineffective", Mottaki
expressed the hope that the parties to the dispute on Iranian nuclear
program would return to negotiation.

"We believe that halt of talks before the US mid-term elections was
politically motivated and therefore it should be revised," he said
emphasizing the need for negotiations.

He reiterated that there are comprehensive ways to resolve the
outstanding issues and ambiguities.