No power can prevent Iran from exercising its right to develop nuclear technology, Iranian Vice President Fatemeh Javadi told a Chilean newspaper.
"Science and research are a right for all countries, including Chile and Iran. No power can take away this natural right," Javadi told the daily Diario Siete in an interview published on Monday.
"The United States has 400 atomic complexes but at the moment it wants to eliminate the possibility that our country develops this technology in a peaceful way," she said.
Javadi departed Chile on Monday after attending the presidential inauguration of Michelle Bachelet in Valparaiso on Saturday.
During her visit, the vice president said she had no contact with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who also attended the inauguration.
In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed on Monday that his country would press on with disputed nuclear activities despite international warnings to scale back nuclear fuel work.
The UN Security Council is to convene soon to call on Iran to comply with the demand of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to suspend all its sensitive uranium enrichment-related activities.