(TIP)—Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Tehran “will not give up one iota” of its nuclear rights, deploying rhetoric that AFP described as ”echoing his hardline predecessor” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The statements come a day after the chief of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog (IAEA) emphasized that it was “essential and urgent” for Tehran to address international concerns surrounding its atomic program. A recent IAEA report called specific attention to Iran’s efforts to lock in advanced uranium enrichment technology, to bring online its plutonium reactor, and to destroy evidence of work possibly related to the development of nuclear weapons. Rouhani’s response to the IAEA’s call for greater transparency is in line with similar statements made by an advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month, to the effect that the revolutionary-era cleric’s government will follow “the same trend strategically as the former government” of Ahmadinejad. It comes alongside Rouhanis’s vocal support for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime, and may heighten skepticism regarding the new president’s self-described moderation.