New Delhi: International pressure is mounting for action against Iran's nuclear programme.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - will meet in Vienna, Austria, on Monday to discuss Iran's nuclear program and a possible referral of the issue to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Iran, however, seems to be in no mood to relent.
The country's nuclear head warned on Sunday that the country will start large-scale uranium enrichment if it is referred to the UNSC.
"If Iran's nuclear dossier is referred to the UNSC, (large scale) uranium enrichment will be resumed," Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told a news conference.
"If they (the US and its allies) want to use force, we will pursue our own path," he said.
With time running out, thousands of Iranians gathered in capital Tehran to assert their right to a nuclear program. So far, negotiations with Russian and European officials have not yielded results.
On Thursday, Iran and Russia held talks to establish a joint uranium enrichment venture to ease concerns over its nuclear ambitions.
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However, further negotiations on the details did not produce a clear-cut decision as Iran did not entirely give up plans for domestic enrichment - a key Western demand.
Iran only has an experimental research program and it would need months to begin any large-scale enrichment.
Larijani also said Iran would not give up nuclear research and warned that taking Iran to the UNSC will not make the Islamic republic back down from pursuing a peaceful nuclear program.
"Nuclear research and development is part of Iran's national interests and sovereignty and won't give it up," he said.
Despite three years of inspections, Iran has not given the IAEA enough access to documents, scientists, or nuclear sites, it says, to know for sure.
Iran's nuclear facilities are spread across its vast territory. According to the Iranian government, it wants nuclear power, not weapons and critics argue it has enough oil and gas for centuries.
But even if all this is just a front for a secret weapons program, experts believe an actual bomb remains years away.
The international community wants to deny Iran a dual-use technology. But in its latest report - now being submitted for discussion - the IAEA has asaid that Iran has already begun small-scale enrichment.
Negotiations have so far failed to get Iran to pull back. Though Russia has been offering to enrich Uranium for Iran, the offer has been turned down.
(With inputs from CNN.com)
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