Sanctions against Iran no joke, ex-president warns Ahmadinejad

Sep 14, 2010, 8:35 GMT

Tehran - Iranian ex-president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani on Tuesday warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government that international sanctions should be taken seriously.

'During the (more than 30-year) revolution, we have never had this quantity of sanctions and I call on all officials to take them quite seriously and not deal with them like they are a joke,' Rafsanjani said at the annual meeting of the Experts' Assembly, the country's highest clergy body.

The moderate ex-president was referring to the reaction of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the United Nations Security Council resolutions and sanctions, dismissing them as unimportant and 'like used paper tissues.'

The UN Security Council decided to impose fresh sanctions in June to pressure Iran to halt its nuclear activities.

'I am a cleric who has been in politics for almost 60 years and have enough experience and I therefore ask you to pay attention to these issues and take them seriously,' said Rafsanjani, who heads the Experts' Assembly.

Before the presidential election last year, Ahmadinejad attacked Rafsanjani's policies and accused him and his family members of embezzlement during his stint as president between 1989 and 1997.

Following last year's disputed presidential election which was overshadowed by fraud charges, Rafsanjani showed his support for the opposition groups which refused to acknowledge Ahmadinejad's re-election.

Since then the 76-year-old Rafsanjani has been pushed into the opposition corner and banned from performing the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran.

'Our main asset and the main key to success are the people's support and the more this support decreases, the more we should be worried,' Rafsanjani said, referring to claims by opposition groups that the people were gradually turning their back on the government.