"Iranians consider it their right to exploit peaceful nuclear fuel cycle technology and insist on their undeniable right," the hardline president said in a rally in the northeastern town of Bojnurd.

"If some people think they can talk to us with a language of force and threats, they are making a bad mistake. If they don't realise that now, one day they will learn it the hard way," he warned.

On Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that requires Iran to halt uranium enrichment and other sensitive nuclear fuel work by August 31 or face the prospect of sanctions.

Iran insists it wants to enrich uranium only to make reactor fuel and that this is a right enshrined in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Demands for a suspension stem from widespread suspicions the country wants the capacity to make weapons-grade uranium.

Ahmadinejhad made no direct comment on the resolution but other senior officials dismissed it as "destructive" and "worthless".

"This resolution will definitely have no constructive results and could only worsen the situation," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

"It has only been designed to pressure Iran and to prematurely block the path of negotiations," he added.

Parliament Speaker Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying: "While the Security Council does not dare to condemn the Qana massacre (in south Lebanon) ... it feels alarmed by Iran's nuclear activities and adopts a resolution that is worthless in the eyes of the people."

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations described the resolution as "destructive and totally unwarranted".

"I would suggest to you that this approach will not lead to any productive outcome. It can only exacerbate the situation," Javad Zarif told the Security Council in New York.

The Security Council charged International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei with reporting back on Iranian compliance.

The resolution was pushed through after Iran ignored a previous non-binding deadline and failed to respond to the offer of a package of incentives in exchange for a moratorium on nuclear fuel work.

But the text held off from an immediate threat of sanctions, which have been opposed by Russia and China, and said any punitive action would have to be the subject of further discussions.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said the resolution was "balanced and gives every opportunity for continuing the process of negotiations", although he did warn that "the Security Council could examine further steps to persuade Iran".

"Of course, no one is going to look at any use of force," he was quoted as saying.

But a state radio commentator said the resolution was merely fresh proof that "Western countries want to prevent Iran from having an independent nuclear energy programme."

An editorial in the ultra-hardline Siasat Rouz newspaper called on the government to quit the NPT -- something officials have already threatened to do if the pressure mounts.

"In preparing the final battle, we should at first attack US bases in neighbouring countries and then clear the region of this infected microbe," the paper said, while also calling on Iran to rally "friendly governments and Muslim people ready to carry out suicide attacks".

"It shows the Security Council has sadly become an instrument in the hands of the Americans," the hardline Jomhuri Eslami paper fumed. "Iran will undoubtedly respond by suspending its adhesion to the NPT."

And the hardline Kayhan newspaper, whose firebrand editor is appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the UN order "does not carry the necessary weight."

"The objective... is to threaten Iran rather than take action," the paper said.

The text represents a diplomatic victory for the United States, which has long been pushing for tough action.

"The clock has begun to tick," said John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations. "The ball is now clearly in Iran's court. The choice is up to them."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was "confident that we have very good cooperation with Russia and China on this issue", while asserting that the resolution "does not close the door to diplomacy".

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