IRAN - June 4 - Iran Says Will Not Beg For Its Atomic Rights.

Supreme Leader Ayat Ali Khamenei says Iran will not beg world powers for its right to develop nuclear technology and has shown it will not retreat from the "field of danger" to protect such rights. The defiant remarks by the Islamic Republic's highest authority come two days ahead of a summit of the Group of Eight top industrialised nations that is expected to include discussions about the row over Iran's nuclear programme. World powers have demanded Iran halt uranium enrichment, a process Western nations say Tehran is mastering so it can build atomic bombs. Tehran insists its plans have purely civilian goals and has refused to halt the work. "Do you think the Iranian nation will beg for reaching its nuclear rights so that bullying powers will accept this? ... No, this is not the spirit of a free and independent nation", Khamenei said in a televised speech. "The world has learnt from experience that an Iranian will never step back from the field of danger when defending his rights", Khamenei said in remarks to mark the anniversary of the death of Ayat Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic's founder who died in 1989. Khamenei accused Iran's "enemy" - usually used to refer to the United States - of waging a "psychological war" and seeking to divide Iranians ahead of parliamentary elections in March. "This next parliamentary election will be another way (to show) the nation's dignity and growth", he said. He also accused "the enemy" of seeking to divide the Islamic world, to which the crowd chanted "Death to America.