TEHRAN, Aug. 6 Kyodo, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said Sunday that Iran will expand its uranium enrichment activities in defiance of a U.N. Security Council resolution that threatens sanctions if the country refuses to halt its nuclear activities.

Ali Larijani called the U.N. Security Council resolution issued last week ''illegal'' and said Iran will not respect the Aug. 31 deadline of the resolution. ''We reject this resolution,'' he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

In April, Iran enriched raw uranium to the level needed to fuel nuclear power plants for the first time with a cascade of 164 enriched interconnected centrifuges at its Natanz pilot plant.

It has since informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to expand the experimental cascade to a plant with 3,000 centrifuges by the end of the year.

Iran argues that its enrichment program is needed to provide fuel for its ambitious program to build seven or more power reactors.

However, the United States, European and other countries suspect it may be a front for a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

2006-08-06 17:42:47JST