TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday issued a stern warning to Europe amid new moves to agree sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, saying such "hostility" could endanger relations with the continent.
Ahmadinejad accused Europe of not just wanting to ensure that Iran's nuclear drive was peaceful but of seeking to thwart the entire programme, in a speech to cheering supporters as he kicked off a tour of Mazandaran province.
"If you (Europeans) continue making efforts to halt the progress of the Iranian nuclear programme and if you take any step against the Iranian nation's rights, either in propaganda or international bodies, the Islamic republic will consider this an act of hostility.
"And if you continue with this, the Iranian nation will revise the direction of its path and its plans related to you," he added in the speech broadcast on state television.
The speech came as high-ranking diplomats from six world powers were to meet in Paris Tuesday to try to break weeks of deadlock and agree what UN sanctions should be imposed on Iran for its failure to halt sensitive nuclear work.
After weeks of failed talks to persuade Russia and China to agree a European-proposed draft resolution, France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Monday the new talks had a strong chance of succeeding.
Iran has defiantly refused to suspend its uranium enrichment work, a process that the West fears could be diverted to make nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely aimed at generating energy.
Ahmadinejad said his warning were directed at "two or three" European countries, a reference to Germany and permanent UN Security Council members Britain and France who have led efforts to find a negotiated solution to the standoff.
His defiance over the adoption of any UN Security Council resolution against Iran was echoed by the top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, who said such a move would be pointless.
"If the resolution is aimed to stop the Iranian nuclear programme, this is not effective ... It would be another black mark on the record of the UN Security Council." Larijani said during a press conference in Dubai.
"Rest assured that Iran will not give in to such pressures and will not abandon its inalienable rights" (to a civilian nuclear programme), he added.
In his speech in the city of Sari, the capital of Mazandaran province, Ahmadinejad vowed that Iran would press ahead with its nuclear programme, which has already seen it enrich uranium to around five percent on a research level.
"Today the Iranian nation has mastered the fuel cycle and with the help of God will make all necessary measures for a full production of nuclear fuel in all of its power stations with wisdom and intelligence," he said.
Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad urged the United States to consider his letter to the American people released late last month that urged US troops to withdraw from Iraq and elicited the frostiest of responses from Washington.
"They frowned, made a sour face and resisted because of their arrogance and distance from the prophets' path," Ahmadinejad said.
"I hope their eyes and ears are not that closed to the invitation to the path of prophets, love, kindness and becoming proud. We have invited them to stop tyranny and invasion for a while and I am sure if they do so, they will have a sweet experience".
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