Iran - Ahmadinejad Speaks on Sanctions - NYTimes.com The West has begun a "heavy battle" with Iran by tightening sanctions over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday in his first major speech since a European Union oil embargo took effect this month. Speaking at a conference, Mr. Ahmadinejad said his government was doing all it could to sidestep a growing list of sanctions, imposed over Iran's refusal to halt its uranium enrichment activities. "The government will not retreat one iota from their rights, values and principles against weakening materialistic powers," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. The remarks come two weeks after a total oil embargo imposed by the European Union and banking sanctions by the United States went into effect against Tehran over the uranium enrichment, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes only but which the West says is aimed at developing weapons.