Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said yesterday that Iran intended to break the current nuclear deadlock through diplomacy, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Mottaki told the visiting President of the Malaysian Senate Abdul Hamid Pawanteh that the nuclear issue should be solved through diplomacy and in line with the ongoing cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He said that the nuclear issue has become a matter of national concern and that his country would not give up its legal rights under pressure.

"If we retreat from our rights today, pressures will be imposed on other countries of the Non-Aligned Movement tomorrow," Mottaki stressed, adding that "Rights and obligations are the two important aspects of international conventions and treaties." Meanwhile, he criticized the U.S. role in the Middle East. "We are trying to find a diplomatic solution for our nuclear problem, and the United States should acknowledge the fact that it is no longer in a position to create another crisis in the region," he said.

"Three years ago the Americans invaded Iraq, but the occupation still continues because Washington can not resolve the Iraqi problems, and now they request for talks with us on the insurgency," Mottaki said.

"Likewise, it attacked Afghanistan to establish stability in the country but after four years even the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has acknowledged that insecurity is still the main problem in Afghanistan," he added.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared a leap in nuclear technology on Tuesday, saying that Iran had successfully enriched uranium to 3.5 percent, the purity necessary to fuel nuclear power plant.

The UN Security Council has demanded Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activities by the April 28 deadline, which was rejected by Tehran.

The United Sates accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly, but Iran denies the charge, saying that its nuclear program is for fully peaceful purposes.