Iran Flouts Nuclear Sanctions

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday said international sanctions won't stop Iran from enriching uranium, vowing not to give into "coercion," state-run television reported.

"Iran will stand up to coercion. ... All Iranians stand united to defend their nuclear rights," state-run TV quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

Iran has refused to comply with international demands that it suspend uranium enrichment. It also has condemned as "invalid" and "illegal" a U.N. Security Council resolution passed last month that imposes sanctions against the Islamic Republic for refusing to halt enrichment.

"Enemies have assumed that they can prevent the progress of the Iranian nation through psychological war and issuing resolutions, but they will be defeated," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on state-run TV.

Ahmadinejad's latest lashing out at the sanctions came as China's president urged him to change his tune. President Hu Jintao on Friday urged Iran to give a "serious response" to the Security Council resolution, Chinese state media reported.

The resolution "reflects the shared concerns of the international community over the Iranian nuclear issue, and we hope Iran could make a serious response to the resolution," Hu said in his meeting with Iran's visiting top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The Security Council voted to bar all countries from selling materials and technology to Iran that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs.

The United States has led the drive to stop Iran from enriching uranium — a process that produces the material for either nuclear reactors or bombs. Iran denies that it seeks to build atomic weapons, saying its nuclear program is limited to the generation of electricity.

As Ahmadinejad offered further rhetoric Friday, his nuclear chief said Iran could show hard evidence that their nuclear program was still moving ahead unabated.

Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who is also the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said they had produced and stored 250 tons of the gas used as the feedstock for uranium enrichment, state-run television reported Friday.

Aghazadeh said Iran has kept the uranium hexaflouride gas, or UF-6, in underground tunnels at a nuclear facility in Isfahan to protect it from any possible attack.

"Today, we have produced more than 250 tons of UF-6. Should you visit Isfahan, you will see we have constructed tunnels that are almost unique in the world," state-run television quoted Aghazadeh as saying.