Ahmadinejad says sanctions will not alter nuke drive

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ABUJA, July 9 (AFP): Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that new sanctions slapped on his country will not alter Tehran's nuclear drive, remaining defiant in the face of growing Western pressure.
Speaking on Thursday after meeting fellow Muslim leaders at a summit in Nigeria, the Iranian leader said no matter how many sanctions resolutions are approved, "there will be no minor change in our nuclear programme."
"Those resolutions are only paper," he said through a translator.
Ahmadinejad has been outspoken in his dismissal of the new sanctions, adopted by the UN Security Council and several Western governments, previously calling them a "used hanky which should be thrown in the dustbin".
But the head of Iran's atomic energy, Ali Akbar Salehi, acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that the measures "may slow down" its nuclear drive.
"One can't say sanctions are ineffective," Iran's ISNA news agency quoted Salehi as saying.
Ahmadinejad said certain conditions must be met before the resumption of stalled nuclear talks with six world powers.