TEHRAN, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Iran showed no intention Thursday of complying with a U.N. deadline to cease uranium enrichment.
Hours before the U.N. Security Council convened in New York, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke on state television, indicating the country's nuclear program was going ahead.
"Iranians will not surrender to forceful talk, aggression and deprivation of their rights," he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency was due to issue a report midday in Vienna saying Iran has resumed enriching a small amount of uranium, the BBC said.
Of the five permanent Security Council members, Russia and China have shown reluctance follow the United States' bid for harsh economic sanctions against Iran, which claims its nuclear program is strictly for the production of electricity.
Meanwhile, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and senior officials from Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany would meet in Europe early next week to discuss the issue.
