The United Nations Security Council has overwhelmingly agreed to a new package of economic sanctions against Iran.

12 of the council's 15 members voted on Wednesday to approve the sanctions resolution.

Turkey and Brazil both voted against the resolution, while Lebanon abstained.

Barack Obama, the US president, called the resolution "the toughest sanctions ever faced" by the Iranian government.

"We recognize Iran's rights. But with those rights come responsibilities. And time and again, the Iranian government has failed to meet those responsibilities," Obama said at the White House.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, was one of several high-ranking Iranian officials to quickly condemn the decision. Ahmadinejad said the sanctions would not have an impact on Iran.

"Sanctions are falling on us from the left and the right. For us they are the same as pesky flies," Ahmadinejad said. "We have patience and we will endure throughout all of this."

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, said lawmakers would review the level of Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. And Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, said the vote "damaged" the UN Security Council.

Further negotiations

The new package of sanctions expands an existing arms embargo against Iran, and prevents the country from importing technology for certain kinds of ballistic missiles.

It also imposes an asset ban and a travel freeze on more than three dozen companies and individuals, including Javad Rahiqi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center.

"We do not see sanctions as an effective instrument... [the] spiral of sanctions, threats and isolation can result in tragic consequences," said Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Brazil's ambassador to the UN.

"The concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear program.... will not be resolved until dialogue begins."

Ahmadinejad has warned that the sanctions bill would scrap the fuel swap deal, which was agreed to last month.

Under the proposed deal, Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of enriched uranium to Turkey in return for nuclear fuel for a reactor in Tehran.

The US and its allies have been indifferent to the proposal, saying it was not a serious offer.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Security Council begins their meeting at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, June 9, 2010.

Al-Jazeera