Iranian leaders brushed off the threat of sanctions or military attack over their controversial nuclear drive, insisting the West was powerless to halt the Islamic republic. The tough rhetoric came after the regime dismissed appeals from UN’s atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei to freeze its uranium enrichment programme and calm suspicions it is seeking the bomb. “Today, thank God, the Iranian nation is a powerful one and we are going to have a dialogue with the world from a position of power,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the northeast of the country. Full Story