Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off the threat of UN sanctions Thursday, saying his nation would not give up "one iota" of its nuclear program. "The Iranian nation will not cede one iota of its rights," Ahmadinejad told thousands of cheering supporters in the town of Islamshahr, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital Tehran. "Our nation achieved proficiency in nuclear energy at a time when you imposed economic, scientific and technological sanctions against us," he said, addressing the US and its allies and referring to sanctions imposed on Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and hostage-taking at the US Embassy in Tehran. The crowd interrupted his speech with the chant: "Nuclear energy is our right!"