Iran: Sanctions won't derail enrichment

Associated Press

HASHTGERD, Iran (AP) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Wednesday that sanctions will not stop Iran from enriching uranium after a European negotiator conceded "endless hours" of talks had made little progress and suggested the dispute could wind up at the U.N. soon.

The talks had been seen as a last-ditch attempt to avoid a full-blown confrontation between Iran and the U.N. Security Council after Tehran ignored an Aug. 31 deadline to suspend enrichment - a key step toward making nuclear weapons - or face punishment.

The latest comments - and the view of senior U.N. diplomats who told The Associated Press on Tuesday that nearly two years of intermittent negotiations had failed - suggested an emerging consensus that the time has finally come to consider Security Council sanctions.