As expected, the U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to implement new sanctions on Iran to force the country to suspend its nuclear program, measures that Barack Obama called “the toughest sanctions ever faced by Iran.” The sanctions, which include cargo inspections and travel bans (though not gas import controls), passed by a 12–2 vote. But Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn’t exactly shaking in his boots. The Iranian media is reporting that Ahmadinejad colorfully described the sanctions as similar to a “used handkerchief that should be dumped in a garbage can.”
