"Such sanctions will have no effect on us," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham Elham told reporters a day after the European Union called for the full implementation of UN sanctions imposed on Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

Uranium enrichment lies at the focus of fears over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, as the process can make the fissile core of an atom bomb as well as nuclear fuel.

Elham said that Iran would press ahead with its nuclear fuel cycle work despite the sanctions.

"This sanction does not affect our national will to complete the fuel cycle in order to meet industrial needs and the development of the country, which has started and will continue," he said.

In a new show of defiance Iran said on Monday it would block 38 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors from entering the country in reprisal for the sanctions.

The Vienna-based IAEA said it was discussing the issue with Iran, but added that it could continue monitoring its nuclear facilities even without the presence of inspectors.

Elham said on Tuesday, however, that Iran would "continue working with the IAEA" and advised European countries "not to take hasty decisions influenced by the Americans".

On December 23 UN Security Council passed resolution 1737 imposing sanctions on Iran for its repeated refusal to cooperate fully with the UN atomic energy watchdog or to suspend uranium enrichment.

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