Iran says sanctions over its nuclear program not to be effective

TEHRAN, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Parliament speaker said Tuesday that the potential sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program would not to be effective.

Iran's Parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks at a press conference in Tehran, captial of Iran, March 16, 2010. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)

The past and the old "carrot and stick" policy and imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program will not have "desired response for the United States and some western counties," Ali Larijani said in a live press conference broadcast from state IRIB TV.  

Iran's course of nuclear program is transparent, Larijani said, adding that Iran has accepted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regulations, performs within its frameworks and is just ready to follow the course of its nuclear program in that framework.

Elsewhere, he said that there are still diplomatic capacities to solve Iran's nuclear dispute.

Asked about the IAEA last year proposal to swap the nuclear fuel for Tehran's research reactor, he said that "There was a deceit in that. They (west) wanted to take Iranians' achievements (of enriched uranium) from them."

Under a draft deal brokered by the IAEA, most of Iran's existing low-grade enriched uranium should be shipped to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel rods with the purity of 20 percent. The higher-level enriched uranium will then be transported back to Iran.

The United States and its Western allies have been accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the disguise of a civilian program. Iran has denied the accusation and stressed its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.