Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warned here on Thursday that the West will suffer if it continues to speak with Iran in the language of force, saying that pressuring Iran is a mistake, Iran's Press TV satellite channel reported.

Speaking at a commemoration ceremony for the martyrs in a bombing, Larijani accused the western powers of practicing "cruel methods" to curb Iran's technological advancement by unjustly taking advantage of nuclear and human rights issues.

Iran is acting rationally in talks on its nuclear program but its enemies speak forcefully to the face of Iranian people, a trend which would be met with a "hard punch" if continued, Larijani said.

Larijani warned that no constructive end will result, unless the West stops using the language of force to discuss Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

Larijani said on Wednesday the West should seriously heed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei' s warnings and prevent provoking Iran.

The 27-member European Union (EU) on Monday decided at a meeting in Luxembourg to freeze the assets of Iran's largest bank, Bank Melli, and impose a travel ban on high-level experts dealing with Iran's nuclear program in an attempt to punish Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment activities.

Under the new sanctions, the operations of the bank at its European offices in London, Hamburg and Paris will be stopped, while another 20 individuals and 15 organizations were added to EU 's visa-ban and assets-freeze lists.

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini condemned the new EU sanctions against Iran, saying such measures are "illegal."

(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2008)