GROWTH IS WORTH A NUCLEAR PROGRAM:

A government minister launched a rare attack Monday on Iran's downplaying of the impact of international sanctions, saying that "lying" to the public over the measures had left the country "backward."

Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the industry, mining and trade minister, delivered the broadside at a conference in Tehran, claiming years of statements about sanctions not hurting the country were false.

"Why should we abandon logic and swear instead or have empty gestures?" Nematzadeh asked. "Do you think the world doesn't get it that our gestures are empty? That our remarks are empty?"

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