By Edmund Blair
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president said on Friday thatworld powers will not prevent it pursuing its nuclearambitions, the day before a possible vote on a third round ofU.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Western envoys at the U.N. Security Council said theyexpected a vote on Saturday on a new resolution because Iranhad refused to halt work that the West believes is aimed atmaking nuclear bombs. Iran denies this and says sanctions areillegal.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, facing a popularity test ina parliamentary election on March 14, has been criticised bysome of his Iranian opponents for strident speeches, which theysay isolate Iran.
A senior Iranian cleric on Friday backed him and hishandling of the atomic file, the latest supportive remark fromIran's powerful clerical establishment before the vote.
But a U.S. spokesman, reacting to the Iranian president'scomments, said such remarks were pushing the Islamic Republicfurther outside the international community.
"FINAL VICTORY"
"The Iranian nation will have the final victory in thenuclear arena," Ahmadinejad told a military gathering inTehran, according to the official news agency IRNA. "No powerwill be able to obstruct the movement of the Iranian nation."
The president had previously said no amount of U.N.sanctions would deter Iran from what he insists is a peacefulprogramme aimed at mastering technology to make electricity sothat Iran can export more of its oil and gas reserves.
Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House NationalSecurity Council, said: "He just further isolates Iran and theIranian people and that's not our goal at all."
"Iran knows what it needs to do, Iran is the outlier hereas the international community unites."
Ahmadinejad has said this month's report by the U.N.International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran was a victorybecause it said several suspicions about Tehran's aims had beenresolved. However, it also said some concerns remained.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran's conservativeGuardian Council, a body that vets and can bar candidates forparliament, gave Ahmadinejad his backing in a sermon at Fridayprayers that was broadcast on state radio.
"The victory you (Iranians) are experiencing is because ofthe courage of the Iranian president," he said.
REFORMISTS BARRED
Reformists opposed to the president accuse the GuardianCouncil of political bias in barring many of their hopefuls, anaccusation that the council rejects.
Parliament does not decide major policy but the electionmay indicate Ahmadinejad's chances for re-election in 2009.
Jannati urged voters to pick those who had "tastedpoverty".
Ahmadinejad, the son of a blacksmith, has played on hishumble beginnings and in the 2005 presidential race called forIran's oil wealth to be shared out more fairly -- a slogan thathelped secure the backing of many of Iran's poor.
But his economic and spending policies have since beencriticised by some as inflation has risen to 19 percent.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who does not endorseany political party, praised the president on Tuesday for hishandling of the nuclear issue and criticised those who hadcounselled compromise with the West in the past.
Khamenei has the final say in all matters of state,including atomic policy, under Iran's system of clerical rule.
The five permanent Security Council members -- the UnitedStates, Britain, France, China and Russia -- and Germany, whichis not on the council, agreed on a draft resolution on January22.
U.S. and British envoys expect a council vote on Saturday.
Four of the 15-members of the Security Council have voicedscepticism about the resolution. Eleven others, including thefive permanent members, support it.
The draft calls for more travel and financial restrictionson named Iranian individuals and companies, and makes somerestrictions mandatory. Two earlier sanctions rounds wereapproved unanimously in December 2006 and March 2007.
(Editing by Kevin Liffey)
