Iran threatened on Friday to block inspections of its nuclear sites if confronted by the U.N. Security Council over its atomic activities. The hard-line president reaffirmed his country's intention to produce nuclear energy.
France, Britain and Germany quickly responded that they were not demanding sanctions against Tehran just yet.
On Thursday the three countries, backed by the United States, said that nuclear talks with Iran had reached a dead end after more than two years of acrimonious negotiations and the issue should be referred to the Security Council.
However, they refrained from calling on the 15-nation council to impose sanctions and said they remained open to more talks.
For her part, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a "strong message" had to be sent to Tehran but said she was not ready to talk about what action should be taken to curtail Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran responded Friday by saying that if it were confronted by the council, it would have to stop cooperating with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
That would be, among other things, the end of random inspections, said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
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