Defiant Iran says US sanctions 145;doomed to fail146;

The US move came as a senior American diplomat accused Russia and China of aiding and abetting Iran8217;s military.

US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said Russia should stop selling weapons to Iran and China should stop investing in the country. 8220;They8217;re now the number one trade partner with Iran. It8217;s very difficult for countries to say we8217;re striking out on our own when they8217;ve got their own policies on the military side, aiding and abetting the Iranian government in strengthening its own military,8221; Burns was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Burns said that despite differences with both Russia and China the US still hoped that the UN Security Council would approve a third resolution imposing new sanctions this November. He said he hoped Iran would be persuaded to move away from confrontation and choose to negotiate. 8220;We want to be at the negotiating table, we want a peaceful resolution of this dispute. But to reinforce diplomacy, sometimes it has to have a tough side to it,8221; he said.

The head of Iran8217;s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jaafari, set the tone for Iran8217;s response to the new sanctions, saying the Guards Corps was now ready to defend the ideals of the revolution more than ever before.

Iran8217;s foreign ministry also condemned the move. 8220;The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and the country8217;s legal institutions are contrary to international law, without value and, as in the past, doomed to failure,8221; Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

The US declared the Revolutionary Guards a 8220;proliferator of weapons of mass destruction8221;, a reference to ballistic missiles they are allegedly developing, while their elite overseas operations arm, the Quds Force, was singled out as a 8220;supporter of terrorism8221;.