Iran warned on Saturday that it would revise its policy of cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) if sanctions are imposed over its nuclear programme, Britain's Sky News television reported.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's representative to IAEA, told the television that "If other erroneous measures are committed and the UN Security Council decides on sanctions or punitive measures, there is no doubt that the Islamic Republic of Iran will revise its policy of cooperation and its engagements laid out in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."

"We will continue our policy of cooperation only if there are no measures against Iran and our rights are not violated," he added.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged on early Saturday in the northwestern town of Maku that his country would "firmly" defend the goals of its nuclear program in all talks on the issue.

Earlier on Friday, one day after Tehran disregarded a UN Security Council deadline for it to suspend uranium enrichment, the Iranian president also vowed that his country would never give up its right of exploiting peaceful nuclear energy.

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, the IAEA 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."

Source: Xinhua