Iran's supreme leader ordered the country's diplomats on Tuesday to defend the country's nuclear program, saying any retreat would undermine the country's independence and Tehran's other foreign policy goals.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, sits as Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, left, speaks during a meeting of Iranian ambassadors based abroad, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March, 14, 2006. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that 'no power' can take nuclear fuel technology from Iran and vowed that Tehran will resist pressure from U.N. security Council on its nuclear program. [AP]

"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers retreat over the nuclear issue ... as breaking the country's independence which will impose huge costs on the Iranian nation," state television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as telling diplomats brought home from Iran's embassies across the world for consultations with Iranian leaders.

His comments echoed those of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vowed to resist pressure from the U.N. Security Council to back down.

The five veto-wielding members of the council ¡ª the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France ¡ª have been weighing proposals to persuade Iran to respond to concerns about its nuclear program. They were to resume their talks later Tuesday at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

The United States and its European allies want Iran to permanently abandon uranium enrichment and all related activities, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for reactors or materials for a nuclear bomb. Iran denies any intention to build weapons, saying it only wants to produce energy.

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