Ahmadinejad: We won't beg West

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday he does not intend to beg the West in order to avert another round of international sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.

The Iranian leader also slammed US President Barack Obama, accusing him of belligerence and the killing of civilians.

"We do not accept the notion of threats or sanctions, yet we shall never beg to those who threaten us with sanctions so that they refrain from imposing them," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Iran.

Addressing his American counterpart, the Iranian president added: "Obama talks with people using the language of bombs and bullets. They killed more than 300,000 people in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Meanwhile, the Iranian military's Chief of Staff, General Hassan Firouzabadi, warned that no American soldier will stay alive should the US invade Iran's territory.

"Should America threaten Iran even more and act against it, the threats against the US will be a thousand times graver, and its economic problems will grow," he said.

Iranian officials have escalated their rhetoric against the US and Obama over the past week, while also adopting a harsher tone against Israel. On Wednesday, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that "if the Zionist regime attacks Iran, there may not be much left of it."