TEHRAN -- A senior Iranian cleric said today Iran will not be cowed by threats or swayed by "bribery" to give up its right to nuclear technology.
Ahmed Khatami, a member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, was responding to a resolution censuring Iran passed by the UN nuclear monitoring agency on November 27.
"Islamic Iran has shown the world powers during the past 30 years that Iran is a nation which does not withdraw from its rights even for a moment, neither through direct threats or indirect threats," Khatami said.
The resolution condemned Iran for developing a uranium enrichment site in secret, and demanded that it immediately freeze the project.
It was the first time in four years that the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency has approved a resolution censuring Iran.
The White House said U.S. and international patience over Iran's nuclear program is "limited" and that time is running out.
Spokesman Robert Gibbs said if Iran refused to meet its obligations, it would be "responsible for its own growing isolation and the consequences."
Compiled from agency reports