Iran on Sunday warned it would hit back with an appropriate response to new UN Security Council sanctions over its contested nuclear programme, as Western powers stepped up efforts to punish Tehran.

Britain, France and the United States are pushing for a new sanctions resolution in the coming week after the UN atomic watchdog said it could still not confirm if the Iranian atomic drive was peaceful.

"In the case of the adoption of the resolution, we will make a deserving action. We will announce our decision at the right time based on the content of the resolution," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday warned of "firm reprisals" against any country leading the way to impose new sanctions, adding that Iran was "not joking."

"They could spend 100 years passing resolutions but it will not change anything," he said in an interview with state television.

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Neither Hosseini or Ahmadinejad gave any details over exactly what Iran's response could involve.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday in its latest report that it had made "quite good progress" in its four year-probe into the Iranian nuclear drive.

But crucially for future sanctions, the report said it was still not in a position to determine the "full nature of Iran's nuclear programme" and confirmed Tehran was continuing to defy UN demands by enriching uranium.

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