Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged on Thursday (Sep 28th) that his country "would not bend one inch" on its nuclear program, the state television reported.

"The Iranian people will not back one inch under any force and pressure," Ahmadinejad told thousands of supporters in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran.

"They wanted us to suspend (uranium enrichment activities) for one day, but we said we won't do it," he added, giving the West a clear rejection of halting uranium enrichment.

Ahmadinejad stressed that Iranians had made up their mind in using nuclear energy and insisting on their inalienable right of taking advantage of this energy.

The Iranian president said that the West wanted his country to suspend uranium enrichment activities in order to press for a permanent halt, but Iran would not agree to such a demand.

The United States and its allies were "basically opposed our progress, not nuclear weapons production," Ahmadinejad said. "They fear that our capacity and our young children's capacity will turn Iran into a global power."

Meanwhile, the hard-line Iranian president voiced the hope that the talks on its nuclear issue could continue.

"We have always expressed our readiness for a fair dialog in the framework of our inalienable rights and have ensured that our peaceful activities are under the permanent watch of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," he said.

Ahmadinejad made the remarks just hours after Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana finished their new round of talks in Berlin.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting on Thursday morning, Larijani said that all the topics had been discussed and there had been "some positive outcomes."

However, neither of them gave any further details.

"We hope to be able to embark on the main negotiations as soon as possible," Larijani said.

Editor: Donald