Dr Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA says that sanctions against Iran have made it more determined to carry on with its nuclear activities.
Iran's nuclear power programme has been a source of international tension for the past decade.
At no point has it been able to shrug off the suspicion that its pursuit of nuclear energy is also an effort to make nuclear weapons.
He told the BBC's Katya Adler that negotiation not confrontation was the best way forward.
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