"The main thing in nuclear energy is enrichment. The (International Atomic Energy Agency) board of governors tells Iran to totally suspend its enrichment activities. Today one person even said Iran does not need to enrich uranium," Ahmadinejad said.

"They are really shameless and want to deprive us of our right to nuclear technology, and then sell us nuclear energy at a very high price," he fumed.

"Who are you to threaten the independent people of Iran? The Iranian people will follow their own path and will under no condition renounce their legitimate right," he was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.

Ahmadinejad was speaking as the UN's nuclear watchdog began emergency talks expected to conclude Friday with Iran being reported to the UN Security Council over suspected atomic weapons work.

Iran says it only wants to make electricity, but enrichment can be extended from making reactor fuel to making the core of an atom bomb.

Ahmadinejad also brushed aside a compromise proposal from Moscow, under which Iran's uranium would be enriched in Russia in order to ally proliferation concerns but at the same time guarantee Iranian access to nuclear fuel.

"The propose to enrich abroad. They think we are backward. Even if we agreed to this, what would we do if one day they refused to give us fuel? How can we trust you to give us fuel if you don't even let us buy airplane parts?" he said, referring to longstanding US sanctions.

"Be certain that we will not back down," he was quoted as saying earlier, having branded the Western powers as "resembling old lions with no hair or mane, incapable of doing anything."

"The oppressing powers... say the Iranian people and government want to be isolated, but I tell them that the ones who will be isolated are them."

related report
Iran Officially Informs Iaea Of Retaliation To UN Referral Tehran (AFP) Feb 02 - Iran officially informed the head of the UN's atomic watchdog Thursday it will resume uranium enrichment and limit IAEA inspections if its disputed nuclear drive is reported to the UN Security Council, IRNA reported.

The threat was contained in a letter from Iran's top national security official Ali Larijani to the International Atomic Energy Agency's director, Mohamed ElBaradei.

"In the event of Iran's case being sent to the Security Council, in whatever form, the International Atomic Energy Agency's surveillance will be severely limited and Iran will resume all suspended nuclear activities without restriction," Larijani was quoted as having written in the letter.

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