TEHRAN — A defiant President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday Iran was ready for more sanctions and would not bow to pressure in meeting any deadline set by world powers over its nuclear programme.

''No one can impose sanctions on Iran anymore. We welcome sanctions. We have given our proposed package,'' Ahmadinejad said told reporters after parliament strongly backed 18 of the 21 members of his proposed new cabinet.

He was referring to Tehran's package of proposals that would form the basis of fresh talks with world powers which Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Tuesday had been updated.

Jalili on Thursday added that the ''package will be presented soon,'' according to the ISNA news agency.

Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, meanwhile announced that the president will go later this month to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York ''to encourage Iranian  views in managing the world.''

Iran's reaction comes as the United States and five other world powers -- Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany -- pressed the Islamic republic on Wednesday to accept an offer of face-to-face nuclear talks before a key UN meeting in late September.

Senior diplomats from the six world powers, known as P5+1, and the EU, met in Frankfurt on Wednesday urging Iran to accept their offer of direct talks.

Earlier, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Iran will not bow to ''threat and pressure'' in meeting any deadline set by world powers.

''We are a nation which believes in dialogue and interaction, but if they (six world powers) want to set up a deadline using threat and pressure, it is not acceptable,'' Ghashghavi was quoted on Thursday as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Iran insists its nuclear work is peaceful but Western countries suspect that Tehran wants atomic weapons. The UN Security Council has slapped three rounds of sanctions on the country, and pressure is growing for more.