Iran: 'We Are A Nuclear Country'

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday that Iran won't back away from uranium enrichment and said the world must treat Iran as a nuclear power.

The comments were made as Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Tehran for talks aimed at defusing tensions over Iran's nuclear program, including "how we can bring Iran in line with the request of the international community including suspension of enrichment."

On Tuesday, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar, jubilant Iranian scientists paraded what they said was evidence they had crossed a major technical hurdle, enriching uranium to a level suitable for power production.

"Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the full nuclear fuel cycle is just one phrase. We say: Be angry at us and die of this anger," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"We won't hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian nation (to enrich uranium)."

Ahmadinejad declared on Tuesday that Iran had successfully produced enriched uranium for the first time, a key process in what Iran maintains is a peaceful energy program.

It would take thousands of centrifuges, many more than Iran now has, and years of work to produce enough highly enriched uranium to make even one weapon, reports MacVicar.

Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, then said Wednesday that Iran intends to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges, signaling the country's resolve to expand a program the United Nations has demanded it halt by April 28.

"It's obviously ignoring what the Council asked them to do by going in exactly the opposite direction," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said.

The United States accuses Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to produce nuclear weapons but Tehran says its nuclear program is merely to generate electricity.

"Today, our situation has changed completely. We are a nuclear country and speak to others from the position of a nuclear country," IRNA quoted the president as saying Thursday.

ElBaradei told reporters after arriving at Tehran airport that he believed the time was "ripe" for a political solution. He said he would try to persuade Iranian authorities to meet international demands for "confidence-building measures, including suspension of uranium enrichment, until outstanding issues are clarified."

Also Thursday, China said it is sending an envoy to Iran and Russia to discuss the dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai is due to leave on Friday.

"Recently, there were some developments of the Iranian nuclear issue," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. "We expressed our concern. ... We hope the parties should exercise restraint and not take any actions that lead to further escalation so we can solve the question properly through dialogue and diplomacy."

At the United Nations a day earlier, China expressed strong concern over Iran's announcement that it had successfully enriched uranium and called on Tehran to suspend enrichment. However, both China and Russia have repeated their opposition to any punitive measures against Iran.

On Tuesday, Iran announced it had produced enriched uranium on a small scale for the first time, using 164 centrifuges, at a facility in the central town of Natanz.

Saeedi said using 54,000 centrifuges will be able to produce enough enriched uranium to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant like one Russia is finishing in southern Iran.

In theory, that many centrifuges could be used to develop the material needed for hundreds of nuclear warheads if Iran can perfect the techniques for producing the highly enriched uranium needed. Iran is still thought to be years away from a full-scale program.

The IAEA is due to report to the 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 U.S. and Europe are pressing for sanctions, a step Russia and China have so far opposed.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the Security Council must consider "strong steps" to induce Tehran to change course. Rice also telephoned ElBaradei to ask him to reinforce demands that Iran comply with its nonproliferation requirements when he holds talks in Tehran on Friday.

On Wednesday, Iran's nuclear chief, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said the United States had no option but to recognize Iran as a nuclear power. But he said Iran was prepared to give the West a share in its enrichment facilities to ease fears that it may seek to make weapons.

"The best way to get out of this issue is for countries that have concern become our partners in Natanz in management, production and technology. This is a very important confidence-building measure," he told state-run television.