Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that now it was too late to stop Tehran's nuclear program as Western powers are launching new efforts to impose new UN sanctions against the country.

"It is too late to stop Iran's progress since we have advanced to a new stage," the Iranian president told a news conference.

"It is too late to push us back," Ahmadinejad said. "Our nuclear activities are legal and within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency."

The U.S. State Department said on Friday that Washington will seek for new sanctions by the UN Security Council against Iran as Tehran refused to give up its nuclear program in the latest talks with officials of the European Union.

"They (Iranians) have not agreed to suspend their uranium enrichment activities as they are required to do so under UN Security Council resolutions," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

"I suspect this will mean we will be starting very soon with some consultations on developing the next round of sanctions through a new UN Security Council resolution," he said.

Casey made the remarks after EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and top Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani had talks on Iran's nuclear issue in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday.

The UN Security Council has adopted two resolutions imposing financial and other sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can either be used to generate electricity, or to make nuclear weapon.

The United States and its Western allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear programs.

Source: Xinhua