Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday that Iran was determined to press on with its nuclear program regardless of pressure from the West."We will continue our efforts to defend our undeniable rights on nuclear technology," Rafsanjani told worshippers at a Friday prayers ceremony.

Rafsanjani said it was contradictory to international conventions to deny Iran's right to get access to peaceful nuclear technology, saying a referral of Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council will harm many sides. "Unreasonable decisions on the Iranian nuclear case of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors at its upcoming meeting would hurt not only Iran but also other parties," Rafsanjani said.

The IAEA Board of Governors will hold a meeting on Sept. 19, and the European Union (EU), the longtime broker of the Iranian nuclear issue, has urged Iran to re-suspend uranium conversion activities before the opening of the meeting.
The EU has warned that a failure to observe the deadline of Sept. 19 will prompt the referral of Iran's case to the UN Security Council.

Rafsanjani, who is currently chairman of Iran's powerful Expediency Council, described the EU warning as a "hegemonic and colonist" behavior." IAEA inspectors have proved that the accusation on Iran's nuclear program launched by the United States is totally baseless, but they (the Europeans) are still dealing with the issue based on such a fabricated accusation," Rafsanjani said. Iran resumed uranium conversion activities, a preliminary step toward uranium enrichment, on Aug. 8 and rejected a comprehensive proposal made by the EU to solve the nuclear issue.

In the proposal, the EU asked Iran to abandon its efforts to build nuclear reactor cycles, including uranium enrichment, to provide objective guarantees that its nuclear research will not be used for military purpose.But, Tehran insists that it never give up its legal rights set out by the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The United States accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the disguise of civil usage, a charge rejected by Tehran.
 
(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2005)