Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has dismissed international sanctions against Iran as a “childish idea” after Barack Obama, the US president, announced he would extend the punitive measures.Obama said on Thursday he would lengthen sanctions against Iran for one year, because it continued to pose an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security.The US president said Iran needed to first “unclench its fist”, before he was willing to hold direct talks with the nation.The US maintains that Iran’s nuclear programme is a cover to build atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
