Iran shrugs off threat of referral to U.N.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday shrugged off a decision by world powers to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its atomic program, saying Tehran would never abandon its "right to exploit peaceful nuclear technology."

The permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany agreed on the referral Wednesday, saying they had given Iran long enough to respond to a package of incentives intended to persuade it to abandon uranium enrichment � a process that can lead to the production of nuclear weapons.

The powers said in Paris they would seek a resolution requiring Iran to suspend its enrichment activities.

"The people of Iran will not give up their right to exploit peaceful nuclear technology," Ahmadinejad said in the northwestern town of Mineh, according to state television. "They are not intimated by the arrogant uproar and propaganda today."

Ahmadinejad added that Iran would continue to negotiate over the direction of its nuclear program, "but that doesn't mean blind obedience to the West."

He reiterated that Iran plans to respond to the incentives package in August.

"We are interested in seeing this issue resolved peacefully. But if they (the West) create tension, then the outcome would affect the Europeans. The tension would primarily harm them," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

He said Iran might revise its nuclear policy, but he did not elaborate.

Later, Ahmadinejad said resolving the case would take time.

"A several years-old case is not solvable in only a few months. In a nuclear case, two, three, four months is not a remarkable time," he said in the neighboring town of Sarab.