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Iran's President Slams West For Sanctions

BEIRUT--Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacked Western powers for sanctions against Iran but offered no clear indication on whether his country would return to negotiations on its nuclear program, in his first public remarks since the European Union agreed to a ban on Iranian oil imports.

In a public rally on Thursday in the southeastern city of Kerman, the Iranian president called the West "the enemy of the Iranian people because the Iranian people have decided to conquer the impossible...the bigger the challenge, the stronger is our will."

In another message of Iranian defiance, Iran's parliament said it would discuss an immediate halt of oil imports to Europe in retaliation for the oil embargo, which the EU set to begin on July 1 to give its members time to find alternative supply sources.

The EU said those concerns were outweighed by fears that Iran is moving closer to the ability to produce nuclear weapons. Iran contends its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

European leaders, in announcing the sanctions on Monday, stated they weren't targeting the people of Iran, but the country's leadership, with the intent of pressing them to return to negotiations with the international community on the country's nuclear program.

Yet Mr. Ahmadinejad blamed the failure of the talks on the U.S. and EU, saying Iran had no reason to avoid negotiations, but that the West undermines them with sanctions against Iran.

U.S. and EU officials have said Iran hasn't formally responded to a request made in October to Iran to the talks with the international community, represented by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany.

Mr. Ahmadinejad stopped short of offering to restart negotiations, saying, " Why would we run away from negotiations? Why should the person who is in the right and has logic avoid talks?"

The expanding sanctions regime has taken a toll on Iran's economy. Its currency, the rial, has dropped by nearly 50% against the dollar in the past month on the black market.

On Thursday, Iran's central bank devalued the currency by 8% against the dollar and ordered all currency-exchange shops to adhere to the official rate or be shut down, according to Iran's official media.

Iranian lawmakers also called on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to intervene against a pledge by Saudi Arabia that it would increase supply to fill gaps in world markets if needed.

OPEC has so far tried to stay away from the mounting confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The EU also agreed to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank, the conduit for the country's oil revenue, and ban trade with its petrochemical industry.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government on Thursday criticized the EU embargo, underscoring the difficulty the West faces in creating a wedge between Iran and one of the largest buyers of Iranian crude.

"To blindly pressure and impose sanctions on Iran aren't constructive approaches," China'sForeign Ministry said in a statement reported by the Xinhua state news agency. The statement said China hopes to solve such disputes through dialogue and consultation.

China is Iran's No. 2 oil buyer, behind the EU, which accounts for around 20% of Iran's oil revenue.

China's dependence on Iranian oil grew last year, with imports rising more than 30% to 27.8 million metric tons, or nearly 560,000 barrels a day, according to customs data. China consumes more than nine million barrels of oil a day, second only to the U.S.

Another important buyer of Iranian oil, India, has also declined to curtail purchases.

China has joined previous U.N. efforts aimed at getting Tehran to curtail any nuclear-weapons ambitions, but has balked at the U.S. efforts to raise pressure on Iran outside U.N. auspices.

The EU ban could give China more leverage with Iran's state oil company.

People familiar with the contract talks between China United Petroleum & Chemicals Co., or Unipec, and the National Iranian Oil Co. have said the two sides are still haggling over economic terms, in a dispute these people have said is unrelated to the nuclear issue.

By Farnaz Fassihi, The Wall Street Journal; farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com

(Carlos Tejada in Beijing and Benoit Faucon in London contributed to this article.)

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