Speaking a day after the European Union declared that talks to find an agreement had failed, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said the intensifying moves for sanctions would further "radicalise" the situation.
"If the Europeans give into US pressure, the situation will radicalise in such a way that Iran will suffer the least and the West will suffer the most," Larijani told the Mehr news agency in an interview.
"Any new (UN Security Council) resolution would push further back the chance of an agreement.
"If the other side tries to pass a resolution and exercise pressure and threats, then Iran will not stay indifferent," he added.
He reiterated warnings that Iran could suspend its policy of allowing inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to carry out checks on its nuclear sites.
Security Council moves "would also be perceived by Iran as a threat to our security and will have consequences for our attitude towards the agency," he said.
"The path of sanctions and an illegal hardening is a path along which a reciprocal reaction from Iran can be expected."
Larijani said that if sanctions are pursued, this "will accentuate the regional crisis," in the Middle East.
"The adventurist actions of the United States (against Iran at the Security Council) would have consequences on a regional scale," he added, without elaborating.
Sanctions action against Iran is looming after Tehran failed to heed repeated deadlines to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which the West fears could be diverted to make nuclear weapons.
However Iran insists its nuclear programme is aimed solely at generating energy and that it has every right to enrich uranium as part of its drive to master the full nuclear fuel cycle.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006