‘Western countries will not sacrifice interests for U.S. goals’

TEHRAN, Dec. 25 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast said most Western countries will not sacrifice their national interests for the political objectives of the United States. These countries believe that sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and the central bank cannot be imposed, Mehmanparast said during a radio program broadcast on Saturday. Certain Western countries do not want to lose the Islamic Republic’s thriving market, he added. Mehmanparast made the remarks in reference to the fact that the U.S., Israel, and Britain are pressuring the European Union into banning oil imports from Iran while many EU member states are on the verge of insolvency and cannot put up with higher oil prices. Elsewhere in his remarks, Mehmanparast commented on a conference, which started on Saturday with the participation of the heads of Iran’s diplomatic missions based in foreign countries, and said that the issue of the Islamic awakening, the latest developments in the Middle East and North Africa region, and the issues of Palestine and certain other countries were among the most important topics that were discussed during the first day of the conference. The Occupy Wall Street movement and the people’s campaigns against capitalism and the latest developments in a number of Western countries will also be discussed at the conference, he added. Mehmanparast went on to say that other issues such as the sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic, the economic jihad, effective strategies that should be employed in Iran’s foreign diplomacy, and the potential that should be utilized to help fulfill “our objectives” at home and abroad are other topics that are on the agenda of the conference.