Iran will not back away from nuclear work

TEHRAN, Apr 13 (Reuters) Iran will not back away from its right to enrich uranium in defiance of renewed international calls to halt sensitive nuclear work, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today.

''Today, our situation has changed and we are a nuclear country and we are talking to others from that position,'' he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency yesterday.

''We will not hold talks with anyone about the Iranian nation's right (to enrichment) and no one has the right to step back, even one iota,'' he said in remarks made shortly before the arrival early today of the UN nuclear watchdog chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, to discuss Iran's nuclear programme.

REUTERS SY BS1143