Iran: Nuclear Program 'Irreversible'

Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday that his country's nuclear fuel program was "irreversible", warning that any retreat by Iran over its nuclear program will be "breaking the country's independence."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also ordered Iran's diplomats abroad to defend the country's nuclear program, saying that backing down will force Tehran to gradually give up all its foreign policy goals. Earlier in the day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also vowed to resist pressure from the U.N. Security Council over the program.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers retreat over the nuclear issue...as breaking the country's independence which will impose huge costs on the Iranian nation," state television quoted Khamenei as saying to diplomats brought home from Iran's embassies across the world for consultations with Iranian leaders.

"Any retreat at this point will bring an unending chain of pressures and further retreats. Therefore, this path is irreversible and the foreign policy establishment has to bravely defend Iran's right," he said.

The comments came ahead of discussions later Tuesday on Iran's nuclear program by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to slap sanctions on Iran if it doesn't back down in its confrontation with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

Ahmadinejad said that "no power" can take nuclear fuel cycle technology away from Iran.

"Rest assured that the technology to produce nuclear fuel today is in the hands of the youth of this land and no power can take it back from us," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in northern Iran.

His defiant comments drew chants of "nuclear energy is our right" from the crowd.

Ahmadinejad's hardline position puts Iran on a collision course with the world's biggest powers, further heightening tension over Tehran's suspected nuclear activities.

The United States and its European allies want Iran to permanently abandon uranium enrichment and all related activities, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for reactors or materials for a nuclear bomb. Iran denies any intention to build weapons, saying it only wants to produce energy.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, have been considering proposals to pressure Iran to resolve questions about its nuclear program, including demands that it abandon uranium enrichment.

China on Tuesday expressed optimism that negotiations could still resolve the dispute, calling on Tehran to cooperate.

"Now there is still room to solve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiations," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang. "We hope Iran can cooperate closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency and do more to build up mutual confidence to help reach a solution."

A diplomat familiar with the negotiations told CBS News that Ambassadors from the entire 15-member Security Council expected to meet at a location outside the United Nations on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a draft statement that was proposed by Great Britian and France.that calls on Iran to return to its suspension of uranium enrichment.

"The United States and its allies could elect to support a softer stance in the first round at the Security Council. It is likely there will be a presidential statement," CBS News foreign analyst Pamela Falk says. "It's not binding, and the Security Council doesn't have to vote."

Ahmadinejad said Iran would not abandon its drive to produce nuclear fuel by what he called the harsh statements and pressures by the U.S. and its allies.

"They should be assured that through propaganda, political pressures and games they play nowadays such as issuing statements, making angry gestures...can't deny the Iranian nation from pursuing its path," he told the crowd gathered in the town of Gorgan.

The United States and its allies, he said, are angry because Iran has made progress in its nuclear program.

"They are really angry that this great nation (Iran) is gaining access to the peaks of progress and development," he said.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned Monday that Iran's government is taking the country in the "wrong direction" and repressing its own people and pursuing confrontation abroad.

Britain, France, Germany and the United States successfully pressed the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to report Iran to the Security Council last week after Tehran resumed nuclear research and small-scale uranium enrichment.

Iran has insisted it will never give up its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel. It restarted research-scale uranium enrichment last month, two years after voluntarily freezing the program during talks with Germany, Britain and France.

It also has threatened to start large-scale uranium enrichment if the council imposes any sanctions on the country. Iran only has an experimental nuclear research program and scientists say the Muslim nation is months away from resolving technical problems to launch any large-scale uranium enrichment.

Last week, Iran offered what it called a "final proposal" to agree to suspend large-scale enrichment temporarily in return for IAEA recognition of its right to continue research-scale enrichment.

Russia, which is putting finishing touches on Iran's first nuclear power plant in southern Iran, has offered that Iran's uranium enrichment be moved to Russian territory to allay fears that enriched uranium will be used to build atomic bomb.

Tehran and Moscow reached a basic agreement on the proposal, but details were never worked out. Iran said it no longer was considering the Russian proposal on Sunday, but a nuclear official Tuesday said talks with Russia were underway, underlining how many mixed signals are being sent.