The UN Security Council passed a new resolution on Iran March 24 over its refusal to abandon its nuclear program, toughening economic sanctions against the country and accepting the possibility of a military solution to the crisis.
"There is no shutting it down [uranium enrichment]. We believe it is Iran's legitimate right," Gholam Reza Ansari said. "The time has passed."
Earlier, Iranian diplomats said they were ready to consider stopping uranium enrichment if negotiations with five members of the UN Security Council and Germany were resumed.
Ansari also said: "Iran opposes international terrorism and military solutions to current problems."
He said that Iran's military was capable of protecting the country's borders, but did not possess nuclear arms.
"The use of nuclear weapons runs counter to the fundamental law of an Islamic country, and we condemn the use of nuclear arms," the ambassador said.
He also said that Iran's nuclear program was of an exclusively peaceful nature.
On April 9, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that his country had attained an industrial level of nuclear fuel production.
Russia and the U.S. are two of the six negotiators on Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is aimed at generating energy.
