Before U.N. vote, Iran says atomic work won't stop

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - World powers will not prevent Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions, the Iranian president said on Friday, a day before a possible vote on a third round of U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Western envoys at the U.N. Security Council said they expected a vote on Saturday on a new resolution because Iran had refused to halt work the West believes is aimed at making nuclear bombs. Iran denies this and says sanctions are illegal.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, facing a popularity test in a March parliamentary election, has been criticised by some of his Iranian opponents for strident speeches they say isolate Iran.

But a senior cleric on Friday backed him and his handling of the atomic file, the latest supportive remark from Iran's powerful clerical establishment before the March 14 vote.

"The Iranian nation will have the final victory in the nuclear arena. No power will be able to obstruct the movement of the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad told a military gathering in Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The president previously said no amount of U.N. sanctions would deter Iran from what he insists is a peaceful programme designed at mastering technology to make electricity so the Islamic Republic can export more of its oil and gas reserves.

Ahmadinejad has said this month's report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear plans was a victory because it said several suspicions about Tehran's aims had been resolved. But it also said some concerns remained.

"The victory you (Iranians) are experiencing is because of the courage of the Iranian president," said Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran's conservative Guardian Council, a body which vets and can bar those seeking a seat in parliament.