Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that his country would not take even one step back from its nuclear activities, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"All world powers should know the Iranian nation has made its decision to take its brilliant and honorable course of progress and development," Ahmadinejad told local residents of Naeen city in the central province of Isfahan.

The Iranian president, who was visiting Naeen on the third day of his five-day provincial tour of Isfahan, stressed that world powers can not force the Iranian nation to withdraw from its rights.

"Iranians advocate logic and negotiations. They are not demanding something more than their legitimate rights," he said, adding "the Iranian people will not let anyone violate one iota of their rights."

Ahmadinejad's remarks came just three days after a report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) said Iran still defied UNSC Resolution 1747 and expanded its uranium enrichment program.

The report, prepared by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, also expressed concern about its "deteriorating" understanding of unexplored aspects of the program.

The report blamed Iran for blocking IAEA efforts to probe its nuclear activities. It was handed over to the UNSC president for distribution among its members.

The UNSC unanimously adopted on March 24 Resolution 1747 with tougher sanctions to pressure Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities.

Iran has refused to heed the council's demand, insisting that its nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes only.

The United States and some other Western countries have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear programs.

Source: Xinhua