JAKARTA, Indonesia — Iran's president today dismissed Western concerns over its nuclear program as "a big lie," a day after key U.N. Security Council members agreed to present Tehran with a choice of incentives or sanctions in deciding whether to suspend uranium enrichment.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters in Indonesia's capital that Iran will "absolutely not back out" of defending its right to pursue new technology, accusing the United States and other Western nations of monopolizing the nuclear technology market to secure profits while engaging in non-peaceful proliferation.

"They pretend that they are concerned about the nature of the nuclear program of the Islamic rebublic of Iran," he said after meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "This is a big lie."

"Today the people of Iran are not just defending their own rights, but also those of other nations," he said. "They (the United States and other Western powers) want to prevent other countries from reaching the pinnacle of science and technology."

At a meeting Tuesday, representatives of the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France as well as Germany agreed to tell Iran the possible consequences of its refusal to halt its enrichment program and the benefits if it abandons it.