Iran now a nuclear state: Ahmadinejad

Speaking on the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution,Ahmadinejad told a huge and closely orchestrated crowd of supporters that Iran was now a 'nuclear state'.

Irans President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confronted opponents at home and abroad on Thursday,one of the most momentous days of his countrys political calendar,sending security forces onto the streets to break up Opposition protests and taunting Western adversaries by claiming advances in Tehrans nuclear capacity.

Speaking on the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution,which toppled Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi,Ahmadinejad told a huge and closely orchestrated crowd of supporters in Tehrans Azadi Square that Iran was now a nuclear state.

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 said. In the near future we will treble its production, Ahmadinejad said.

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He continued: We have the capability to enrich uranium more than 20 percent or 80 per cent, he said,according to news reports,but added that Iran did not need to do that. His speech was broadcast live on state television.

When we say we do not manufacture the bomb,we mean it,and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb, Ahmadinejad told the crowd,according to news reports.

But,apparently addressing the US 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.

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 per cent enrichment this week and claiming that Tehran could now attain much higher levels of enrichment.

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Right now at Natanz we have the capability to enrich uranium to much higher levels, Ahmadinejad said,referring to Irans nuclear facility south of Tehran,according to news reports.

International Atomic Energy Agency officials said on Thursday they could not confirm the Iranian claim that the enrichment process had been successful.

Western experts noted that even if Iran possessed 20-per cent-enriched fuel,it did not mean it could be used in a reactor without being converted into fuel rods.

News reports said pro-government Iranians gathered to hear Ahmadinejad outnumbered his opponents who faced a crackdown by security forces that broke up many attempts to protest. NYT

Iran slows Internet service,shuts text messaging

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 Opposition websites carried reports of a crackdown on anti-government protesters with accounts of gunfire,teargas and attacks on Opposition leaders.

 Authorities tried to squeeze off text messaging and web links in attempts to cripple protest organisers. Internet service was sharply slowed,mobile phone service widely cut and there were repeated disruptions in popular instant messaging services such as Google chat. One official said that Gmail would be blocked.

 But several Iranians reached by Associated Press said messenger services,including Yahoo!,and mobile phone texting were sporadically accessible. Internet users said they could not log into their Gmail account since last week.

 Green Voice website said security forces fired shots and teargas at supporters of Mir Hussein Moussavi in central Tehran.

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 Another Opposition website,Jaras,said that security forces attacked the car of Opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi as he was heading to a rally marking the anniversary.

 Jaras also said security forces attacked former President Mohamed Khatami and briefly arrested his brother and his brothers wife,who is a granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,the father of the Islamic Revolution.NYT