Meanwhile Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Iran would defend to the end its internationally acknowledged legitimate rights and not make any compromise with world powers over its nuclear programmes.

'The Iranian nation has the spirit of resistance and sacrifice and can therefore not be intimidated,' Ahmadinejad said at a meeting with families of martyrs of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

'Resistance is the secret of the (1979) Islamic revolution and with increased popular support, we will enter the international scene with more decisiveness than before,' the president added.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili also insisted Wednesday that Iran would go on with its nuclear programmes regardless of what world powers say.

'We will not wait for others to give us permission to pursue our path of progress,' Jalili said referring to Western demands to suspend the atomic work.

'The era in which a few countries imposed their standpoints on others is over,' Jalili added.