Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Iran's president said the country would continue its nuclear research, ignoring a decision by a United Nations agency to refer it to the Security Council.

``If this resolution makes you satisfied, go on and issue as many as you want, but you cannot prevent knowledge and research,'' President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Tehran today, the state-run news agency Fars News reported.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors yesterday voted 27-3 to make the referral, with five countries abstaining. Iran said in response it would resume work to enrich uranium and curtail IAEA spot checks in the country.

``We thank God that he has made (our) enemies stupid,'' Ahmadinejad said today. ``They do not understand that the world has changed. They believe that we are still in the Middle Ages, where several people decide and others accept. But this era is over.''

Iran, the Middle East's second-largest oil producer, has been under threat of UN sanctions over its atomic program since September, when the IAEA found the Islamic Republic in ``non- compliance'' with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran might face censure or sanctions at the UN Security Council.

Stop Enrichment

Yesterday's resolution calls on Iran stop uranium enrichment- related activities, to open military sites to UN inspectors and account for documents related to the procurement of machinery and equipment for its nuclear program. It also asks IAEA Director- General Mohamed ElBaradei to report on the status of those demands at the next agency meeting, on March 6.

Fuel enrichment, which uses a gas obtained through uranium conversion, can be used to produce weapons-grade uranium.

Iran's president, like his predecessor Mohammad Khatami, has said the country has a ``legitimate right'' to develop a nuclear power program. The U.S. and European Union are concerned Iran's enrichment research is a front for developing atomic bombs.

``The Security Council is not the end of the world,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza told reporters in Tehran today, the state-run news agency IRNA reported. ``The opposite side will sustain more damage through reporting Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council.''

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, won't halt oil exports because of the dispute, Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said Jan. 31.

Asefi said Iran has faced a ``more difficult situation'' during its eight-year war with Iraq, which left more than 1 million dead in the 1980s.

Still, Asefi tried to defuse tensions by saying the Islamic Republic was still open to discuss a Russian proposal aimed at breaking the deadlock. The plan calls for Iran to get enriched uranium produced in Russia to allay fears Iran will develop a nuclear bomb, while also guaranteeing it access to nuclear fuel.

``In case it (the proposal) is adapted with the new conditions, it can be discussed and reviewed,'' Asefi said.

Earlier this month, Iran had partly rejected the offer, saying it had a ``right'' to carry out enrichment on its own soil.

A new round of talks is scheduled on Feb. 16 in Moscow.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marc Wolfensberger in Tehran at mwolfens@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 5, 2006 07:49 EST