Iranian leader says sanctions no problem

TEHRAN, March 13 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country will not be impeded in its progress by U.S. sanctions, which he calls "a big mistake."

"We think the path of the Iranian nation is very clear. The Iranian nation is strong and we rely on our own abilities. We have no worries or concerns," Ahmadinejad said Friday after the inauguration of two major gas projects in Assaloueh.

Iran's dismissal of sanctions comes after U.S. President Obama extended for another year a set of sanctions imposed against the country in 1995 under President Clinton, the Press-TV News Agency said.

Obama said in a Thursday message to Congress that Iran's policies and actions were "contrary to the interests of the United States in the region" and posed "a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security and the U.S. economy.