Iran defiant in face of UN sanctions

Iran has responded to the UN's decision to impose trade sanctions by declaring it will immediately resume uranium enrichment.

The UN security council unanimously voted to place embargoes on heavy and industrial equipment to the Middle Eastern country yesterday over its refusal to discontinue its enrichment activities.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly claimed that Iran's nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful and has refused to end the enrichment process that can be used to provide nuclear bombs as well as fuel.

And in comments reported in the country's media, Iran's senior negotiator Ali Larijani said: "Our immediate response to the UN security council is that, as of today, we will start the activities at the site of the 3,000 centrifuge machines in Natanz [central Iran] and we will go ahead with full speed.

"Previously we said repeatedly that if the westerners wanted to exploit the UN security council it will not only have no influence but make us more determined to pursue our nuclear goals even faster."

Despite yesterday's unanimous decision, Russia and China, both of whom have vested energy interests of their own in Iran, are urging caution, with Moscow and Beijing emphasising that the UN resolution rules out the use of military force.

But the US is already calling for tougher sanctions to be imposed on Tehran, with senior state department official Nicholas Burns saying that Washington "does not think this resolution is enough in itself".

"We want the international community to take further action and we're certainly not going to put all of our eggs in a UN basket. We're going to try to convince countries, especially the EU countries, Japan, to consider some of the financial measures that we have undertaken."