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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that any future UN Security Council resolution on the country's controversial nuclear programme would be "ineffective." "They should know that such illegal behaviour will be ineffective against the will of the Iranian people," state television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in reaction to the outcome of Tuesday's meeting of six major powers over Tehran's nuclear issue. In Berlin on Tuesday, the five permanent Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany agreed on the text of a new resolution to be presented for a vote in the coming weeks. "We continue our path in seeking our nation's rights within the framework of international laws," Ahmadinejad added. "Nobody except the International Atomic Energy Agency has the right to make decisions or impose anything on the Iranian nation," he said. Tehran, which insists that its nuclear programme should be dealt with only by the UN atomic watchdog, rejects the involvement of the Security Council. Washington and its European Union allies have been pushing for a third set of economic and trade sanctions against Iran for defying international demands to stop uranium enrichment activities that they fear could be used to make a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists that its atomic ambitions are peaceful and aimed only at generating electricity for a growing population. Tuesday's meeting in Berlin of the foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States ended with an agreement being reached on a new resolution on Iran's nuclear activity. "We agreed on the content of the next Security Council resolution," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after the talks, adding that the text would be presented to the Security Council "in the coming weeks." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the new draft envisages direct talks with Tehran that would include the United States. "It's clearly confirmed by the resolution that direct negotiations on resolving all questions related to the Iranian nuclear programme -- with the participation of all six powers, including the United States -- would be initiated if Iran accepts the proposals of the six," Lavrov said. All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
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