The West can talk all it wants about sanctions, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday, but Tehran will not back down on its nuclear weapon development program. "Without even retreating one step or giving in to sanctions, threats and the psychological war of Islamic Iran's enemies, we will move on the path of (nuclear) progress," the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

Ahmadinejad added that Iran was on its "final steps" in its efforts to develop its nuclear program. On Friday, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said that Western powers "shouldn't waste their time" with sanctions, since it won't make a difference in the long run.