TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran staged its annual show of military might with President Mohammad Khatami vowing the Islamic republic will push on with its controversial nuclear programme even if it risks international isolation.
Khatami`s warning came as Iran paraded its range of ballistic missiles draped in banners vowing to "crush America" and "wipe Israel off the map", and announced it had begun converting a large amount of uranium mineral into the feedstock for enriching uranium.
The president said Tuesday that the international community had to "acknowledge our natural and legal right and open the path for understanding... so we can accept comprehensive international supervision and we can continue our path to acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes."
"Otherwise we will continue on this path even if the result is the cutting off of internation supervision," he told a parade marking the beginning of "Sacred Defence Week", the anniversary of the outbreak of war with Iraq in 1980.
"We have made our choice and it is now the turn of others to chose," he said in a response to a tough resolution passed on Saturday by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Vienna-based body has demanded that Iran halt its controversial uranium enrichment-related activities, a part of the nuclear fuel cycle that can be directed to both energy and weapons purposes.
Nuclear fuel cycle work, including enrichment, is permitted under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it is for peaceful purposes -- but the IAEA wants such activities here stopped pending the completion of its investigation.
But in Vienna, Iranian atomic energy chief Reza Aghazadeh told reporters the country had begun converting uranium yellowcake into the uranium gas that is fed into centrifuges to make enriched uranium -- a violation of the IAEA demand.
The United States in particular accuses Iran of using an atomic energy drive as a cover for weapons developments, and is seeking to have the country hauled before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
But Khatami also repeated denials that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons.
"If we are under supervision or not, we will in no way try to acquire nuclear weapons because it is against our religion and culture. We are opposed to nuclear weapons," he said.
The military parade, held near the mausoleum of Iran`s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruholloh Khomeini on the southern outskirts of Tehran, featured ballistic missiles, tanks and militiamen on off-road motorcycles.
A banner stating "Israel must be wiped off the map" was draped on the side of a Shahab-2 missile, while a banner saying "We will crush America under our feet" was on the side of a trailer carrying the latest Shahab-3 missile.
"The Shahab-3 missiles, with different ranges, enables us to destroy the most distant targets," said an official commentary accompanying the parade, which was carried live on state television.
"These missiles enable us to destroy the enemy with missile strikes," the commentary said, without giving any specific details on the range of the missiles.
The Shahab-3 missile, whose name means "meteor" or "shooting star" in Farsi, is thought to be capable of carrying a one-tonne warhead at least 1,300 kilometers (800 miles), well within range of Israel.
The Shahab-3 missile was deployed among the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in July last year.
Khatami also used his speech to lash out at Israel, widely believed to be nuclear armed but not subject to IAEA controls because it is not a signatory of the NPT.
"The Zionist regime has transformed its small part of land into the biggest warhouse of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons," Khatami complained, calling Israel`s mere existance "a threat not only to the region but the entire world."
Khatami is the latest of a string of officials here who have refused to surrender sensitive nuclear technology.
Hassan Rowhani, a conservative cleric and top national security official charged with handling the nuclear issue, has also threatened to halt stringent IAEA inspections if the issue was referred to the UN Security Council.
But he said Iran could accept a suspension of fuel cycle work the IAEA wants "through negotiations".