TEHRAN: A news agency says Iran plans to submit a written promise to the United Nations that it will not seek nuclear weapons.

The Tuesday report by the semi-official Mehr news agency quotes Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as saying, "Iran plans to declare in the U.N. that it will never go after nuclear bombs. "

Rahimi did not say when the promise would be delivered.

He charged that the Western sanctions aim to thwart Iran's "scientific progress." Several rounds of sanctions aimed at the nuclear program have impacted heavily on Iran's economy.

Iran has repeatedly denied West suspicions that it is pursuing weapons construction under cover of its nuclear program.

In 2005, Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious edict "banning production, storage and use of nuclear weapons."