"Iran will not back down an inch in the face of intimidation, aggression and will not accept being deprived of its rights."
- French news agency AFP quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying. The defiant message came on the day a UN deadline expired for Iran to halt uranium enrichment work or face possible UN sanctions. Tehran has made clear it has no intention of renouncing the sensitive atomic activity, which it insists is for generating electricity.
"I think it's abundantly clear that Iran has no intention of meeting the deadline and meeting the condition that the countries put down three months ago."
- US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said in response to Iran's defiance and he expressed confidence that the UN Security Council can agree sanctions in September.