Iran produces first batch of 20 pct enriched uranium

Iran says first uranium stock for fuel produced

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday Iran has produced the first stock of uranium enriched to 20 percent for a research reactor in Tehran.

"We have produced the first stock of 20 percent enriched uranium at the Natanz enrichment facility," Ahmadinejad told a huge crowd of people in Tehran's Azadi Square.

The crowd had gathered to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Millions of people attended the rally to celebrate the overthrowing of the Shah regime, a US-backed monarchy.

In his address, President Ahmadinejad said the nuclear program remains under the full supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog, adding that the country has the capability to enrich uranium to levels higher than 20 percent.
Iran says the program is aimed at the civilian applications of the technology. The West, however, accuses the country of seeking to develop nuclear weaponry.In an allusion to the allegation, President Ahmadinejad said building an atomic bomb is impossible under UN supervision."Nuclear bombs will be built by those who are not signatories to the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] NPT," he said, accusing the West of nuclear double standards.
"We do not seek nuclear weapons. We are brave enough to admit it."
The remarks come as the Obama administration has stepped up its anti-Iran rhetoric, calling on its allies to back a White House initiative to impose fresh sanctions against the country over a delayed nuclear fuel swap deal.Under the proposal, Iran sought to buy the fuel required for the research reactor in Tehran, which produces medical isotopes. However, West's inflexibility in negotiations prompted President Ahmadinejad to decide to take measures to produce the fuel domestically.
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Iran’s Leader Shifts Spotlight From Protests to Nuclear Step

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran confronted opponents at home and abroad on Thursday, one of the most momentous days of his country’s political calendar, sending security forces onto the streets to break up opposition protests and taunting Western adversaries by claiming advances in Tehran’s nuclear capacity.Speaking on the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which toppled Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Mr. Ahmadinejad told a huge and closely orchestrated crowd of supporters in Tehran’s Azadi Square — also known as Freedom Square — that Iran was now a “nuclear state.” “When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb,” Mr. Ahmadinejad told the crowd, according to news reports.

But, apparently addressing the United States and its allies, he continued, “The Iranian nation is brave enough that if one day we wanted to build nuclear bombs we would announce it publicly without being afraid of you.” Mr. Ahmadinejad brushed aside Western calls for more stringent sanctions, declaring that Iranian scientists had, for the first time, processed uranium to a level of 20 percent enrichment this week and claiming that Tehran could now attain much higher levels of enrichment

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[.. president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a vast, flag-waving crowd of government supporters in central Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square that Iran was now able to enrich uranium to more than 80 percent purity, coming close to levels experts say would be needed for a nuclear bomb, although he again denied it had any such intention. “The Iranian nation is brave enough that if one day we wanted to build nuclear bombs we would announce it publicly without being afraid of you,” Ahmadinejad said, addressing Iran’s Western opponents. But he told the crowd: “When we say that we don’t build nuclear bombs, it means that we won’t do that because we don’t believe in having it.”..]

Σε απλά Eλληνικα / farsi ....  [ >> Μπορούμε και έχουμε την τεχνογνωσία να κατασκευάσουμε και Πυρηνικά όπλα , αλλά προς το παρόν δεν το κάνουμε διότι δεν πιστεύουμε σε αυτό. Δεν το χρειαζόμαστε .. αλλα αν επιτεθείτε .. τότε θα νομιμοποιηθούμε να κατασκευάσουμε πυρηνικά εφόσον ήδη στοκάρουμε με 20% καθαρότητα.. << ] καθαρές κουβέντες .. 

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Global enrichment facilities

The following countries are known to operate enrichment facilities: Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Belgium, Iran, Italy, and Spain hold an investment interest in the French Eurodif enrichment plant, with Iran's holding entitling it to 10% of the enriched uranium output. Countries that had enrichment programs in the past include Libya and South Africa, although Libya's facility was never operational. Australia has announced its intention to pursue commercial enrichment, and is actively researching laser enrichment
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Israel 

Main article: Israel and weapons of mass destruction

Israel is widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles, estimated at 75-130 and 100-200^[1]warheads, but refuses officially to confirm or deny whether it has a nuclear weapon program, leaving the details of any such weapons unclear. Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician for Israel, confirmed the existence of a nuclear weapons program in 1986.