THE TELEGRAPH: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced that Iran is producing its first uranium enriched to 20 per cent, defying the world to stop him.
"I want to announce with a loud voice here that the first package of 20 per cent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists," he told a crowd of hundreds of thousands celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Republic in Tehran.
He said the uranium enrichment plant in the city of Natanz was capable of enriching to the much higher levels necessary to build a nuclear weapon and could triple its production of low-enriched uranium.
But he insisted that the country did not intend to construct a device.
"When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb," he said. "If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it. Our nation has the courage to explicitly say it and build it and not fear you."
He went to attack the West's attempts to curtail Iran's nuclear programme.
"We told them the Iranian nation will never give in to bullying and illogical remarks," he said.
Mr Ahmadinejad's decision to press ahead with enrichment would appear to put an end to a negotiated settlement put forward by the International Atomic Energy Agency to swap Iran's low-enriched uranium for prepared fuel rods for a medical research reactor in Tehran. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, February 11, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: Huge rallies as Iran proclaims 'nuclear state': Hundreds of thousands of government supporters today massed in central Tehran to mark the anniversary of the revolution that created Iran's Islamic republic - while president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad chose the day to proclaim his nation is now a "nuclear state". >>> Associated Press | Thursday, February 11, 2010
