Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Apr. 28 – Iran’s former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in Tehran that the Islamic Republic would not abandon its nuclear projects, hours before the end of a 30-day deadline set by the United Nations Security Council for Tehran to cease all its uranium enrichment activities.

The next steps in international efforts to pressure Iran over its nuclear program (AP):

Tuesday, May 2 – Officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – who report directly to their foreign ministers – meet in Paris to discuss strategy on Iran.

Wednesday, May 3 – The Security Council is expected to meet informally on the report.

Tuesday, May 9 – The foreign ministers of the Security Council’s five permanent members plus Germany meet at U.N. headquarters in New York. The council will meet on Iran formally after those talks.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Apr. 28 – Iran’s radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on Friday that the Islamic Republic would ignore resolutions by the United Nations Security Council calling on it to suspend its uranium enrichment. His remarks, which were aired on state television and carried by the official news agency, came on the final day of a 30-day deadline Tehran had been given by the Security Council to suspend all its uranium enrichment activities.

Reuters: Washington is trying to arrange a meeting of foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany in New York on May 9 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program, Chinese and U.S. diplomats said on Thursday.

New York Times: Iran vowed yesterday to defy any United Nations Security Council resolution on its nuclear activities on the eve of a major report by atomic inspectors on the status of its nuclear program.