Iran vows to produce nuclear fuel despite UN vote

TEHRAN, Aug 1 (Reuters) Iran insists on its right to produce nuclear fuel, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today in reponse to a UN resolution demanding that Tehran stop its atomic work.

The Security Council yesterday demanded Iran suspend its nuclear activities by Aug 31 or face the threat of sanctions.

''The Iranian people see taking advantage of technology to produce nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes as their right,'' Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the northeastern town of Bojnurd.

Tehran denies Western charges that it is developing nuclear fuel for warheads, insisting its atomic scientists are only working on the peaceful production of electricity.

Iranian officials have said sanctions will harm the West more than Iran by sending oil prices to unmanageable levels.

However, diplomats and analysts say Iran's economy would be highly vulnerable to sanctions on industrial components, gasoline imports and European financing.

REUTERS SBA RN2039