From The Khaleej Times

Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed on Wednesday to resist any UN Security Council demands for a halt to the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

We won’t back down one iota on our lawful and inalienable rights, the president was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA, just two days before a UN deadline to freeze uranium enrichment expires.

If international institutions respect our legitimate rights, we will respect their decisions. However, we will not regard these decisions as valid if they are intended to deny us our rights.

He also said the UN bodies should fulfil their duty lawfully so that the Islamic republic will not need to reconsider its relations with them.

The UN Security Council had given Iran until Friday to freeze enrichment work, which makes what can be fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but also material for a bomb, as a confidence building measure to allay fears the regime was seeking a nuclear arsenal.

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