Iran said Sunday it was still willing to negotiate with the international community over its nuclear program, despite its referral by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to the Security Council.

"The door for negotiations is still open," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said at a news conference. "We don't fear the Security Council. It's not the end of the world."

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran to the     U.N. Security Council on Saturday over fears it wants to produce nuclear arms.

Iran responded by saying it would restart full-scale work on uranium enrichment and put an end to intrusive IAEA inspections of its facilities.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed off the IAEA referral.

"Issue as many resolutions like this as you want and make yourself happy. You can't prevent the progress of the Iranian nation," he said in comments carried by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

"In the name of the IAEA they want to visit all our nuclear facilities and learn our defense capabilities, but we won't allow them to do this," he added.

In the past, Iran had allowed snap inspections of its facilities, including military sites.

But parliament passed a law last year requiring the government to block intrusive inspections of Iran's facilities if the country were brought before the Security Council. It also required the government to resume all suspended nuclear activities, chief among them, uranium enrichment.

Uranium enriched to a low degree is used as fuel for nuclear reactors. But highly enriched uranium is suitable for making atomic bombs.

Asefi reiterated that Iran would cooperate with the IAEA within the framework of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Safeguard Agreement.

"We chose our way wisely. We have solutions for all situations that may develop. Referring Iran to the Security Council will definitely harm the other party more than Iran," Asefi said.

Twenty-seven of 35 member nations on the IAEA board voted for Iran's referral, reflecting more than two years of intense lobbying by the United States and its allies to enlist broad backing for such a move. Cuba, Venezuela and Syria voted against, and five members abstained.

After years of opposition, Russia and China backed the referral last week, bringing support from other nations who had been waiting for their lead.

But in return, Moscow and Beijing demanded that the Americans — and France and Britain, the two other veto-wielding Security Council members — agree to let the Iran issue rest until at least March, when the IAEA board meets again to review the agency's investigation of Iran's nuclear program and its compliance with board demands that it renounce uranium enrichment.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (C) visits the Bushehr nuclear power plant, 01 February. (AFP)

AP