"The Iranian nation will deliver a historic slap in the world powers' face if they resurrected again against Iran after supporting Saddam Hussein during his war with Iran," the president told a large crowd in Ahvaz, provincial capital of Khuzestan in the southwest.

Ahmadinejad said the West only used the pretext of opposing nuclear weapons to prevent Iran from developing, adding that "we have done everything to convince these corrupt and selfish powers to believe our nuclear program is peaceful."

"The Iranians will do their best to defend the nuclear rights,"he stressed, in defiance of the recently passed UN resolution concerning the nuclear issue.

"This is a political resolution adopted under pressure from the United States and Britain," denounced the Iranian president,adding that "from the Iranian people's point of view, it lacks validity."

Ahmadinejad also termed the resolution as "a psychological war and propaganda against Iran", saying it was not so important to Iranians.

The United States has accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons in the name of civilian use and led the drive in the UN Security Council to stop Iran from enriching uranium.

The council adopted Resolution 1737 on Dec. 23, 2006, demanding Iran to "suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, and work on all heavy water-related projects."

The resolution also called on all states to impose a ban on trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear programs and ballistic missile delivery systems.

It demanded that "all states shall freeze the funds, other financial assets and economic resources" owned or controlled by officials and companies in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

Shortly after the UN Security Council voted unanimously for the resolution, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement lashing out at the resolution as an "illegal measure".

As a response, Iran's parliament last Wednesday passed a bill urging the government to reduce its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The bill was approved by the powerful Guardian Council immediately and formally became law.