Closed captioning of: Iran defiant as tougher sanctions approved
>>
trish regan
, thank you this morning.
>>>
iran
remains defiant this morning a day after the u.n. voted to impose new sanctions.
iran
is saying that the sanctions are like annoying flies. nbc's chief
foreign affairs
correspondent
andrea mitchell
is now standing by with more. andrea, good morning.
>> reporter:
good morning. these new sanctions are not as tough as the u.s. originally wanted but the administration compromised in order to get
iran
's long-time supporters, china and russia to sign on. now the question is whether the sanctions will work. the
security council
's 12-2 vote was a rare show of unity capping months of intense diplomacy.
iran
is being punished for trying to hide an illegal
nuclear program
and accelerating its production of
nuclear fuel
, fuel that could eventually be used for weapons.
>>
this resolution will put in place the toughest sanctions ever faced by the
iranian government
, and it sends an unmistakable message about the
international community
's commitment to stopping the spread of
nuclear weapons
.
>> reporter:
the new sanctions include a ban on iranian nuclear and missile investment abroad, a ban on conventional arms and
ballistic missile
activities, new procedures to inspect suspicious cargo to stop the smuggling of equipment to
iran
, tighter restrictions on
iran
's
international banking
. after the vote,
iran
's u.n. ambassador was defiant.
>>
no amount of pressure and mischief will be able to break our nation's determination to pursue and defend its legal and
inalienable rights
.
>>
they know this resolution will bite and that it is a major blow to their ability to pursue their
nuclear weapons
and proliferation activities.
>> reporter:
iran
's president,
mahmoud ahmadinejad
, called the resolution valueless and said it should be "thrown in the
waste bin
like a used handkerchief." this morning reports out of russia say they'll freeze a contract to sell missile systems out of
iran
.
“ ”