Iran to announce new nuclear projects Wednesday

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's official news agency said that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will unveil new nuclear projects on Wednesday.

IRNA did not specify in its Tuesday report what the projects would be. But an independent news website that regularly reports on nuclear developments said the ceremonies are likely to include the formal inauguration of the underground Fordo uranium enrichment site in central Iran, and starting operations on two lines of centrifuges there.

Irannuc.ir said that the president is also likely to announce the final stage of production of nuclear fuel rods to be used in a Tehran research reactor.

Russia's RIA news agency, quoting senior Iranian official Ali Bagheri, said Ahmadinejad would attend the event at a reactor which is running out of nuclear fuel originally provided by Argentina in the 1990s, Reuters reported.

The U.S. and its allies have accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has denied.

Ahmadinejad said on Saturday Iran would soon announce new advances in its nuclear program.

"Fuel elements, for the first time created by Iranian scientists will... be loaded into the Tehran research reactor," said Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Reuters reported.

There was no immediate comment from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog.