"People see that the bullies of the world get angry because of the technical and scientific advancement of other countries and they wish to keep the countries and nations backward," he told told a session of an African Union (AU) summit in Gambia at which he is a guest.

Tehran is under mounting pressure from the West to respond next week to an international offer that would defuse the nuclear standoff.

World powers gave Iran one more week Thursday to provide a "clear and substantive response" to an international proposal on suspending uranium enrichment, but Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran would not respond before late August.

However, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who met with the Iranian president on the sidelines of the summit, said "he was pleased that Iran showed a serious commitment to the (diplomatic) process", according to the UN spokesman.

"President Ahmadeinejad underlined to the Secretary General his positive approach to the issue and said he had given instructions that this issue be resolved peacefully," he added.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is to generate electricity and that uranium enrichment is needed to provide the fuel. The EU and the US suspect Iran of concealing a military weapons project.

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