Iran boasts ahead of joining nuclear club

IRAN has successfully enriched uranium for the first time and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country "will soon join the club of countries possessing nuclear technology".

Speaking to a crowd in north-eastern Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying: "Enemies can't dissuade the Iranian nation from the path of progress that it has chosen."

Earlier, former president Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran has successfully enriched uranium for the first time, a major development in its quest to develop nuclear fuel.

The UN Security Council has demanded that Iran stop all uranium enrichment activity by April 28.

Iran has rejected the demand, saying it has a right to develop the process.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, is due in Iran this week for talks to try to resolve the stand-off.

Enriching uranium to a low level produces fuel for nuclear reactors. To a higher level, it produces the material for a nuclear bomb. Iran would require thousands of operating centrifuges to produce sufficient uranium for either purpose. But once the unit of 164 centrifuges is up and running, its scientists can work to perfect the technology for larger-scale production.

The reported breakthrough came only two months after Iran resumed research on enrichment. The resumption prompted Mr ElBaradei's International Atomic Energy Agency to report Iran to the UN Security Council.

The United States and some in Europe accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, an accusation Tehran denies, saying it intends only to generate electricity.

The IAEA is due to report to the UN Security Council on April 28 whether Iran has met its demand for a full halt to uranium enrichment. If Tehran has not complied, the council will consider the next step. The US and Europe are pressing for sanctions against Iran, a step Russia and China have so far opposed.

A spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said Iran was under Security Council orders to "resume full and sustained suspension of all its enrichment".

"The latest Iranian statement is not particularly helpful," the spokesperson said.