Iran leader says sanctions will not slow atom work

ABUJA (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that sanctions imposed by "arrogant" Western powers would not slow the country's progress on its nuclear program.

The United States, Europe and the United Nations have imposed sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Iran says it wants to generate electricity and rejects Western suspicions it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb.

"I would like to assure you that if they change all the papers in the world into resolutions against our country, there will be no minor change in our nuclear program," Ahmadinejad told civil society and religious groups on a visit to Nigeria.

"Iran does not need any nuclear bombs .... We are not in need of any bomb to fight against the arrogant powers," he said, speaking through a translator.

Ahmadinejad has described the U.S. sanctions -- which President Barack Obama said were Washington's toughest ever -- as "pathetic" and said the U.N. resolution was worth no more than a "used handkerchief."

Iran said last month it would soon resume nuclear talks with Turkey and Brazil -- two countries with which it agreed a nuclear fuel swap deal in May -- seen as a tentative first step back to international negotiations.

Ahmadinejad is in Nigeria for a meeting of the Developing Eight Countries (D8), a grouping of predominantly Islamic emerging nations seeking to develop closer trade ties.

(Reporting by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Maria Golovnina)