Iran rejected a repeated demand by the UN Security Council to suspend uranium enrichment work after the 15-nation body imposed arms and financial sanctions on Tehran.
At the same time major powers, who drafted the resolution, last night immediately offered new talks and renewed their offer of an economic and technological incentive package.
But the sanctions would stay in place until Iran halts the enrichment of uranium and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, which can be used to make a bomb or to generate electricity.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who is holding a press conference today, told the Security Council after the vote that it had been abused and manipulated by some of its members to take "unjustifiable action" against Iran's peaceful nuclear program.
"I can assure you that pressure and intimidation will not change Iranian policy," he said.
"Suspension is neither an option nor a solution."
"The world must know - and it does - that even the harshest political and economic sanctions or other threats are far too weak to coerce the Iranian nation to retreat from their legal and legitimate demands," Mr Mottaki said.
Main provisions of the resolution go beyond the nuclear sphere by banning Iran's exports of conventional arms and freezing financial assets abroad of 28 Iranian individuals and entities, including its Bank Sepah, and the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, including those said to be involved in supporting military movements abroad.
The new measures are a follow-up to a resolution adopted on December 23rd banning trade in sensitive nuclear materials and ballistic missiles, as well as also freezing assets of individuals and institutions associated with atomic programs.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters at an EU summit in Berlin he would contact Ali Larijani, Iran's main negotiator on nuclear issues, tody "to see whether we can find a route to negotiations".
Asked whether the detention of 15 British naval personnel by Iran on Friday was raising tensions, Mr Solana said: "I don't think that this should be mixed, one and the other... this is a bilateral responsibility of Iran and the UK."