Friday, October 6 2006 12:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tehran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday (Oct5, 2006) his country would not be frightened by threats to impose sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, hours after Britain's U.N. ambassador said the Security Council would begin discussing sanctions next week.

"Those who threaten Iran by sanctions and embargo should know that this nation lived under the hardest situation in the past 27 years and achieved nuclear technology. This nation will not be frightened by the threats,'' state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad a saying.

Britain's U.N. ambassador earlier today announced that the U.N. Security Council would start disussing a resolution next week that would place sanctions on Iran for refusng o suspend uranium enrichment, a key component in developing nuclear weapons.



The council's decision to take up a sanctions resolution follow talks between European and Iranian negotiators that failed to persuade Tehran to suspend its enrichentprogram during discussions on its nuclear program.

"I expect the Iranian dossier to re-emerge n New York in the course of next week, "Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said.

But earlier yesterday in a speech broadcast live on state-run television, Ahmadinejad praised European efforts for negoiations while warning the United States that it would be humiliated if it didn't not join diplomatic efforts.

"We do warn if you do not return to the correct way, your destiny will be the same as the Pharaoh. You will face humiliation," Ahmadinejad said without elaborating to a crowd in Firouzkooh, 120 kilometers east of Tehran.