SPIEGEL: President Obama has showed a willingness to make concessions, with his speech to mark the Iranian New Year and by offering to negotiate without preconditions. Do you not see the difference between Bush and Obama?

Jalili: We see a change, but no improvement in America’s position…

SPIEGEL: If Tehran doesn’t change its position during the talks in Switzerland, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has threatened you with very painful sanctions.

Jalili: What is new about that? And do you really believe there are sanctions that can hit us that hard? We’ve lived with sanctions for 30 years, and they can’t bring a great nation like Iran to its knees. They do not frighten us. Quite the opposite — we welcome new sanctions.