U.S. and European officials appeared ready Thursday to push for low-level sanctions against Iran, like travel bans, as the country remained defiant on the day of a U.N. deadline to halt uranium enrichment. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not directly address the deadline during a speech to a cheering crowd the day before, but he maintained that Iran had the right to pursue nuclear technology.?

“The Iranian nation will not succumb to bullying, invasion and the violation of its rights,” Ahmadinejad said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi shrugged off the possibility of sanctions, telling state-run television that Iran “will find a way to avoid pressure eventually,”The deadline was widely reported on the front pages of major Iranian newspapers. The daily Aftab said the showdown offers “the enemies” a chance to ratchet up pressure on Iran.

Another newspaper, Kargozaran, expressed doubt that the U.S. would muster enough support within the Security Council for punitive sanctions.

Washington also continues to hold open the possibility that it and its allies – as the next step – might pursue a course outside the U.N. Security Council and impose penalties of their own against Iran.

Iran could theoretically still announce a full end to uranium enrichment before a late Thursday deadline to do so, set by the Security Council. But that appeared unlikely, given Ahmadinejad’s speech and new findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran was enriching small quantities of uranium as late as Tuesday.

MW