Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has admitted that western pressure is affecting the country and said Iran is ready to enter talks.
Both Washington and Tehran have recently dropped hints about the possibility of talks over the nuclear programme.
"You pull away the gun from the face of the Iranian nation, and I myself will enter the talks with you," Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
"Today, because of dishonorable pressure by enemies, people are under pressure. The government is concerned about the uneasy situation of a big portion of the country.”
However Ahmedinejad struck a defiant tone over its right to nuclear technology.
"The Iranian nation will not give up one iota of its rights," he said.
"Your efforts had aimed at preventing us from become nuclear, but we did."
