Iran vowed yesterday never to shelve its nuclear program, defying the threat of sanctions as a UN deadline fell for Tehran to stop work that the West fears could lead to atomic bombs.
Washington says world powers are poised to begin discussing punitive measures next week against Iran if, as expected, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports Tehran has ignored the UN demand to stop enriching uranium by Aug. 31.
"The Iranian nation will never abandon its obvious right to peaceful nuclear technology," state radio quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying, as time ran out for Iran to stop enriching uranium.
"The Iranian nation will not succumb to bullying, invasion and the violation of its rights," Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands.
Iran says it wants atomic energy only for electricity, although it hid sensitive research from UN inspectors for almost 20 years and has hindered UN investigations since.
Western leaders suspect a disguised weapons project and the UN Security Council has ordered it to suspend the work.
"Arrogant powers are against Iran's peaceful nuclear progress. Their pretext and claim is that Iran's peaceful nuclear knowledge might be diverted [into weapons-making] one day. It is a big lie," Ahmadinejad said.
In the days before the deadline, Iran launched a heavy-water production plant and pressed ahead with enriching uranium -- albeit in small, insignificant amounts -- at its pilot centrifuge site in Natanz, diplomats said.
But Iran, in an Aug. 22 reply to an offer from six world powers of trade incentives not to enrich, suggested it was open to negotiations on the scope of its program.
European foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani agreed by telephone yesterday to meet soon in hopes of clarifying Iran's response, Solana's spokeswoman said. The exact date and venue were undecided.
Some US allies in the EU had asked for talks with Tehran to explore its reply instead of resorting quickly to sanctions at the council, Western diplomats said.
In a possible nod to EU concerns, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that even if sanctions discussions began, Iran could still opt to halt enrichment work and spur broader negotiations to implement the package of inducements.
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