A United Nations Security Council resolution calling for Iran to suspend its controversial nuclear program is "unacceptable", a senior Iranian lawmaker said Monday.
"The Security Council resolution is unacceptable and is shifting the climate down a path which will help no one", Kazem Jalali, spokesman for the Iranian parliament's foreign affairs commission, was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
"The Americans must be sure that Iran will not take part in a game which it will lose. If there were to be a loser, it would be those who have shifted the Iranian nuclear issue away from dialogue."
Resolution 1696, adopted by the Security Council in a 14-1 vote, expressed "serious concern" over Iran's refusal to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) orders to halt uranium enrichment and other work that could lead to developing nuclear weapons.
Iran insists that its nuclear programme is intended solely to help meet the growing energy needs of the Islamic republic's economy.
The Security Council gave Tehran an August 31 deadline to comply, and said that IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei should then report back on what Iran has done to fall into line.
But the text of the resolution held off from an immediate threat of sanctions, which have been opposed by Russia and China, and said any punitive action would have to be the subject of further discussions.
On Monday, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that Iran would head "down the road of further isolation" if it failed to heed the Security Council call.
"The international community has offered them a pathway… so that we can have negotiations," said McCormack.
"They don't have anywhere to hide. They don't have any protectors," he said.
"It is in their interest, it is in the interest of the international community for them to comply."
