TEHRAN — Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said on Monday he opposes sanctions against Tehran, ahead of talks between the Islamic republic and world powers over its controversial nuclear programme.
"We are against any sanctions against our nation," Mousavi said in a statement posted on Rouydadnews reformist website.
He said sanctions "will impose agonies on a nation who suffers enough from miserable statesmen."
He added: "The country is on the verge of crises which will mostly hurt the poor as a result of wrong and adventurous foreign policies of the government from which our people suffer.
"We might have simplistically thought this is an advantage for our green movement, but it is not," said Mousavi, who along with his green-wearing supporters regard President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election as "illegitimate."
"Which one of them can be expected to care about the agony their behaviour imposes on people?" he asked of Iran's current leaders. "If we don't care about what harms those living in this land, nobody will."
Mousavi was the closest rival to hardline Ahmadinejad in the June 12 presidential poll, and charges that it was massively rigged.
Despite being fiercely critical of Ahmadinejad's foreign and internal policy, war-time premier Mousavi supported Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology in his campaign.
His comments come as Iran prepares to hold high-profile talks with six world powers in Geneva on Thursday concerning the atomic programme. The West suspects Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons while Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely peaceful.
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