Iran's ambassador to the IAEA says Western powers should learn to live with the fact that Tehran 'will never' abandon its low-level nuclear work, Press TV reported.
Ali-Ashgar Soltaniyeh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA, said Wednesday that the Western powers should come to terms with the reality that "Iran has managed to master the enrichment technology."
"Western countries should also cope with it that Iran will continue its uranium enrichment, albeit with the full cooperation of the UN nuclear watchdog," Soltaniyeh explained.
Soltaniyeh said that over the past six years, UN nuclear officials have published over 20 reports regarding Iran's nuclear activity -- all of which confirm the non-diversion of Iran's uranium enrichment.
The UN nuclear watchdog has so far made "21 unannounced inspections" of the country's nuclear facilities.
Washington and a slew of European powers accuse Tehran of trying to create nuclear weapons capability. Iran, however, dismisses the allegation, saying its uranium enrichment is solely aimed at peaceful energy production.
Soltaniyeh asserted that the Iranian government and people stand united on the nuclear issue. "Therefore we will never deprive our great nation of the peaceful use of nuclear technology at any rate."
Iranians see nuclear development as a sign of national independence, similar to the oil, nationalized in 1951, in spite of fierce western opposition.
The Mossadeq government, which led the oil nationalization movement was brought down in the 1953 coup d'état engineered by the CIA.