Iran underlined its disregard on Friday for the UN deadline to halt uranium enrichment now expired when its president vowed never to give up its nuclear programme and accused the West of misrepresenting Teheran's nuclear activities.

Iran had until midnight Thursday to halt its enrichment activities or face the possibility of economic sanctions under a United Nations Security Council resolution passed on July 31.

Although the UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Thursday that Iran has not halted enrichment, thereby opening the way for punitive measures, US and other officials said no action would be sought before a key European diplomat meets with Teheran's atomic chief next week to seek a compromise.

On Friday, in the first comments by an Iranian official since the deadline passed, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a rally, "Exploitation of peaceful nuclear energy is our obvious right. We will never give up our legal right."

"The West's claim that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons is a sheer lie," state TV quoted him as telling the gathering in Maku, northwestern Iran. "The West basically opposes progress by Iran."

Striking a more conciliatory note, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi urged the West to desist from taking hasty action, saying that the current situation underlined the need for talks with the Security Council's permanent members plus Germany, state TV reported on Friday.

John Bolton, US ambassador to the United Nations, said the Security Council would wait to consider possible actions until European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani sometime in the middle of next week.

The EU reiterated on Friday its commitment to a diplomatic resolution.

"For the EU, diplomacy remains the No 1 way forward," said Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the EU presidency.

He said "this is not the time or place" for the international community to hit Iran with sanctions.

Russia's foreign minister cast doubt on whether the UN Security Council can reach quick consensus on punitive measures.

"We take into account the experience of the past and we cannot ally ourselves with ultimatums, which all lead to a dead end," Interfax news agency quoted Sergei Lavrov as saying.

"Yes, there are countries whose policies raise doubts, and cause discontent, but we all live in the same world and we need to ... draw them into dialogue, and not isolation and sanctions."

On Friday, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said he regretted Iran's defiance of the UN deadlin, and urged the international community to unite to persuade it to change tack.

"I regret very strongly the insufficient response of Iran," Villepin told a news conference in Rome.

Source: China Daily