By Zahra Hosseinian
TEHRAN (Reuters) - World powers can pass U.N. sanctionsresolutions for 100 years without deterring Iran from itsnuclear ambitions, Iran's president said on Saturday.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's defiant comments came a day after areport by the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Iran was being moretransparent about its nuclear plans but was not doing enough toclear up concerns about whether Tehran had military aims.
Tehran insists its plans are peaceful. But the UnitedStates, which has accused Iran of seeking to build nuclearbombs, said Friday's International Atomic Energy Agency reportwas a good reason to impose more U.N. sanctions.
"If they want to continue with that path (of sanctions), wewill not be harmed. They can issue resolutions for 100 years,"the president told state television in an interview.
Those leading the bid to impose more penalties, an apparentreference to Washington, and its allies could not "bring theIranian nation to its knees," he said.
"If they continue (with this pressure), we have designedreciprocal actions," he said without elaborating.
Iranian officials have previously warned that the IslamicRepublic could review cooperation with the IAEA, if pushed.
The president declared the IAEA report a "victory" for theIranian nation, pointing to areas of the document which showedIranian cooperation had cleared up suspicions.
Other Iranian officials and media have echoed thosesentiments since the report's publication, making littlereference to other aspects of the report where doubts remain.
RESIST
The IAEA said it had confronted Iran for the first timewith Western intelligence showing work linked to making nuclearbombs and said Tehran had not given satisfactory answers.
In the interview, the president recounted Iran's row withthe West since 2002 when an exiled Iranian opposition groupexposed parts of the Islamic Republic's programme that had beenkept hidden, including a uranium enrichment facility.
"The path showed that every time we retreat they moveforward, and whenever we resist, they have to retreat," hesaid.
He said Iran would not reverse a peaceful programme whichthe nation considered its right.
The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran haltenrichment, the part of the programme that most worries theWest because the process can be used to make fuel for powerplants or, potentially, material for bombs. Iran has refused.
Tehran insists it is seeking to master nuclear technologyso it can make fuel for a planned network of nuclear powerplants and save its huge oil and gas reserves for export.
Iran has failed to convince world powers about its peacefulaims. Britain and France have said they hope the U.N. SecurityCouncil will vote next week on a third round of U.N. sanctions.
In an earlier message to Supreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei, who has the final word in all state matters includingnuclear policy, the president said the IAEA report was avictory over "domineering powers".
Israel, Iran's arch foe and widely believed to be the onlyMiddle East state with a nuclear arsenal, said in a statementthat Iran was continuing to hamper the IAEA's investigation.
"Israel is convinced that the international community mustincrease its pressure on Iran in order to ensure it does notobtain nuclear weapons," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
(Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
