"We will also impose sanctions on them," Ahmadinejad told reporters late Sunday in response to a question about a decision by the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany to discuss the prospect of sanctions.

Ahmadinejad did not specify what kind of retaliatory action this would involve. Iran, OPEC's second largest producer, has insisted it will not use oil as a weapon in the standoff.

"In the past 27 years they have always threatened us with sanctions and during this time they did everything they could," he said according to the student ISNA and semi-official ILNA agencies.

"They do their thing and in return we will do ours," he said.

In a meeting late on Friday, representatives from the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany agreed to discuss sanctions against Tehran after it refused to heed a new deadline to halt uranium enrichment.

Senior US official Nicholas Burns said the so-called "5+1" group would start drafting this week a sanctions resolution, although he has admitted finding a consensus on the extent of punitive measures would be difficult.

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