Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday his country will use force against its "enemies" to defend its nuclear drive, state television reported.
"For them, subjects like the nuclear issue are pretexts. The key reason for the hostility of the enemies in the past 30 years against Iran is that they want us to pull back so that they can say we have given in," Ahmadinejad said..
"But the Iranian people will resist with force against the enemies," state television quoted him as saying.
The comments came as the United States Friday set a weekend deadline for Iran to respond to an international offer to freeze its nuclear drive.
"We want and we expect a response this weekend," said State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos.
But in Brussels, an E.U. diplomat said the European Union is in no rush for a response from Iran.
"There's no real limit," said the diplomat on condition of anonymity after Washington set the deadline. "We're in no rush" to have a response "in the next 24 hours."
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Thursday there was no deadline and that his country has already replied.
Iran on July 4 handed major powers what it said was its "constructive and creative" response to the offer presented by E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana in June aimed at persuading Tehran to halt sensitive nuclear work.
The package, drawn up by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council along with Germany, offers Tehran technology and negotiations if it suspends uranium enrichment which the West fears could be used to make atomic weapons.