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TEHRAN - Iran will not stop its atomic work for "one second" despite a new UN sanctions resolution and will "adjust" its ties with those behind the measure, Iran's president said on his website.
The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose fresh sanctions on Iran's nuclear programme, which the West says is a covert attempt to build an atomic arsenal. Tehran denies the charge, insisting its plans are peaceful.
"Iran will not stop its peaceful and legal nuclear trend even for one second because of such an illegal resolution," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on his website www.president.ir.
"The Iranian nation will not forget those who backed and those who rejected (the resolution), while adjusting its international relations," he said without indicating what that adjustment in ties would entail.
Iran previously made a similar threat without taking action.
One senior diplomat in Tehran said Britain, France and Germany -- three countries who backed measures against Iran -- had been warned by an Iranian official before the first resolution was passed in December that ties could be downgraded.
The United States, Iran's arch foe and which has been the most hawkish in pushing for penalties, has not had diplomatic ties with Tehran since 1980.
Limited sanctions were imposed on Iran in December for its failure to halt uranium enrichment, the process that can be used to make power station fuel or material for warheads. Iran insists it has the right to master the nuclear fuel cycle.
- REUTERS
