Special Report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

    TEHRAN, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday that his country would not give up its rights to uranium enrichment despite a deadline set by the United Nations Security Council.

    Speaking at a conference on regional security and the Iraqi issue in Tehran, Mottaki said, "Once again the Security Council is on the threshold of a big test, the Iranian nation has collectively decided to seek its rights within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."

    "Western countries want to stand against the firm will of the Iranian people. They say that they can have nuclear weapons, but we can not even have (civilian) nuclear technology," Mottaki complained, adding that "the logic is condemned, and the Iranian nation, in order to prove this, will stand firm and united." The UN Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activities by April 28, which was rejected by Tehran.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to hold a press conference Monday afternoon to underline the country's refusal to compromise.

    Mohamed El Baradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is expected to submit a report on Iran's nuclear issue to the Security Council in the coming days.

    On April 11, Ahmadinejad officially declared that Iran has gained ticket to join global nuclear club by having produced 3.5 percent enriched uranium, a technological leap in the process for nuclear power plant construction, which immediately aroused strong concern internationally.

    The United States has accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under a civilian front, but Iran denied the charge, saying that its nuclear program is fully peaceful. Enditem