Region | Iran
Iran vows nuclear defiance
Iran should not show weakness over its nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says, despite a UN warning that new sanctions are likely.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 February 23, 2007
- Image Credit: Reuters
- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that Iran's compromises in the past have only led to increased demands from the West.
Tehran: Iran should not show weakness over its nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday, a day after Tehran ignored a deadline to stop nuclear work.
"If we show weakness in front of the enemy the expectations will increase but if we stand against them, because of this resistance, they will retreat," he said in a speech.
Compromises in the past have only led to increased demands from the West, he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had reported on Thursday that Iran exposed itself to new sanctions for escalating its nuclear production.
Iran reportedly installed two cascades of 164 centrifuges in its underground Natanz plant, amounting to "industrial scale" production and in defiance of IAEA rules.
US Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said he was confident that additional sanctions will be approved but he declined to predict what they might be.
Britain said on Thursday that it would work towards more UN Security Council measures leading to Iran's "further isolation".
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