TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Iran will not be deflected from its right to develop nuclear technology by referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday.

“If they want to destroy the Iranian nation’s rights by that course, they will not succeed,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference when asked about European moves to refer Tehran to the world body over a suspected atomic weapons programme.

Iran raised the stakes in the dispute this week by removing U.N. seals on equipment that purifies uranium, which can be used for power or, if highly enriched, in bombs.

The United States and the European Union’s three biggest powers have said talks with Iran on the issue are at a dead end, and that they will ask the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer the case to the Security Council.

Britain, Germany and France said this week that Iran had consistently breached its commitments and failed to show the world its nuclear activities were peaceful.

Tehran denies suggestions that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, and says it needs nuclear technology only to generate electricity.