TEHRAN, February 5, 2006 (IslamONline.net & News Agencies) – A defiant Iran announced on Sunday, February 5, it had ended voluntary implementation of a protocol allowing snap UN inspections of its nuclear sites and halted its suspension of uranium enrichment, a day after it was reported to the UN Security Council.

"Iran has stopped all voluntary measures it had undertaken in the past two-and-a-half to three years," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference, reported Reuters.

"We have no commitment to the Additional Protocol any more and our activities will continue based on the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)," he said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted on Saturday, February 4, to send the Iranian nuclear file to the UN Security Council.

The resolution passed by 27-3 with five abstentions, but puts off any UN action against Iran for at least a month to give a room for a political solution to the stand-off.

Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the NPT in 2003, thereby allowing short-notice inspections of its atomic sites.

Mottaki did not specify what other steps had already been taken, but Iran's voluntary measures had notably included a freeze on uranium enrichment.

The US and Europe claim that the Islamic republic is seeking nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran categorically denies.

Iran, which insists its nuclear program is purely for civilian energy purposes, has raised the stakes in the dispute by removing UN seals on equipment that purifies uranium.

"The era of bullying is over," said the Iranian leader. (Reuters).

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off the threat of UN action, which could see his country badly isolated and slapped with sanctions, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"You can issue as many resolutions as you like and have fun with it, but you cannot prevent Iran's progress," he said.

"You know that you cannot do anything. The era of bullying is over," added the Iranian leader.

The Security Council has the power to impose political and economic sanctions on Iran but there are divisions among its five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- about how to deal with Tehran.

US President George W. Bush said the text "is not the end of diplomacy or the IAEA's role" and merely the "beginning of an intensified diplomatic effort".

He said the resolution "sends a clear message to the regime in Iran that the world will not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons."

Although Iranian retaliation is set to worsen tensions, Tehran signaled readiness to press on with negotiations with Russia.

Moscow's proposal is for enrichment to be carried out on Russian soil in order to allay proliferation concerns whilst at the same time allowing Iran to have nuclear fuel for civilian purposes.

"The second round of talks will go ahead, but the Russian proposal must be adapted to the new situation so that we can examine it," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

The two sides are scheduled to meet in Moscow on February 16, with Russia keen to reach a negotiated settlement and guard its economic interests -- which include a one-billion dollar deal to build Iran's first reactor.

"I am sure that the Iranian leadership will look with all seriousness at Russia's proposal," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.