TEHRAN, Iran (SPA) _ U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Saturday began talks with Iranian officials at which he was expected to press Iran over implementation of the U.N.-sponsored cease-fire in Lebanon that barred any weapons supplies to Hezbollah, the Associated Press reported. Annan, who flew into Tehran Saturday for a visit alsodominated by the country's nuclear program,started by meeting with Foreign Minister ManouchehrMottaki. «I am very happy to be here in Tehran, to discussimplementation of resolution 1071, which deals with thesituation in Lebanon. I will also expect to discuss issuesof concern in this region to the international community,»Annan told reporters after his arrival. Annan, who is on a tour of the crisis-wracked Middle East, is expected to seek Tehran's support for U.N. resolution 1071 that halted the 34-day Israeli-Hezbollah fighting on Aug. 14 and that also called for a beefed-up U.N. force of 15,000 troops to deploy in the south to enforce the peace. In Tehran, Annan will meet top officials includingAhmadinejad, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani aswell as Mottaki. State radio said that the U.N. chief wouldhold talks with the Iranian president on Sunday morning. Just ahead of Annan's arrival, Ahmadinejad vowed Saturday his country would forge ahead with its nuclear program despite U.S. pressure, state-run television reported. «Hyperbole against Iran's peaceful nuclear activities byWestern countries especially the U.S. will continue,» thebroadcast quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. «But theresistance and awareness of this nation will defuse allthese plots.» «Avaricious powers can't create any obstacles on the way to the progress of our nation,» Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the town of Miandoab in northwestern Iran.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/386594