CNN, Tehran, Iran,  June 10, 2010 — Following the latest round of sanctions, Iran’s parliament plans to vote Sunday on the urgency of a measure diminishing its relationship with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, a parliament member told the Iranian media,
Iran considers the sanctions illegal and will react accordingly, Esmaeel Kowsari told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Thursday.
If deemed urgent, the proposal — called “the plan to reduce Iran’s relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency” — would head for an immediate vote.
The United States and its allies suspect Iran is clandestinely developing nuclear weapons and that it has blocked attempts by the IAEA to investigate.
That led to the United Nations Security Council imposing Wednesday tough new sanctions on Iran to try to thwart its nuclear agenda. The fourth round of sanctions clamps down on Iranian banks, bans conventional arms sales and authorizes the seizure of ships suspected of carrying suspicious cargo.
U.S. President Barack Obama called them “the toughest sanctions ever faced by Iran.”
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blasted the sanctions, saying they were like a “used handkerchief that should be dumped in a garbage can,” the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency. “They cannot harm the Iranian nation.”