Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that his country would never give up its right of exploiting peaceful nuclear energy, one day after Tehran disregarded a UN Security Council deadline for it to suspend uranium enrichment.

"Exploitation of peaceful nuclear energy is our undeniable right," Ahmadinejad told a rally in the northwestern city of Maku.

"The Iranian people will never give up their legal right," state television quoted him as saying.

Earlier on Thursday, Ahmadinejad also vowed not to yield to pressure or accept violation of its rights in a televised speech.

Iran would not back down an "inch" in the face of "intimidation, " Ahmadinejad said in a speech to a large crowd in Orumiyeh in northwestern Iran.

He stressed that the West "should know that Iranian nation will not yield to pressure and will not accept any violation of its rights."

"The current problem is the U.S. leaders believe they could resolve all the problems by force and their weapons, but time has changed," he added.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July urging Tehran to suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, or face prospect of sanctions.

On Thursday, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei presented a report to the Security Council, saying "Iran has continued enriching uranium despite a UN nuclear deadline for it to suspend or face possible sanctions."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said Friday that the IAEA report was another indication of the Tehran's broad cooperation with the agency and showed the urgency to return to talks.

"The report proved the urgency of return to negotiations," the official IRNA news agency quoted Asefi as saying.

"The report well indicated that Iran has carried out its responsibilities within frameworks of international regulations, the Safeguard and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," he said.

He reiterated that Iran believes "fair and acceptable outcomes" will be achieved through negotiations and respect for "Iran's inalienable rights."

US President George W. Bush declared Thursday that "there must be consequences" for Iran for refusing to stop enriching uranium, while John Bolton, Washington's ambassador to the UN, chose to be more specific, saying the Security Council must now draw up sanctions against Iran.

Asefi said the US officials intended to "misuse the report in line with their political goals by their unilateralism and political motivation."

The spokesman also reiterated Iran's readiness to resume talks with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany who had offered an incentives package, which includes both incentives aimed at persuading Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and possible sanctions if Iran does not comply.

Source: Xinhua