Iran declares new progress in nuclear drive

DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION?

The nuclear fuel cycle includes mining of uranium ore, uranium enrichment, fabrication and use of nuclear fuel, reprocessing of used fuel, and disposal of radioactive waste.

In its February report, the IAEA said it could not verify Iran's planned Arak heavy water reactor was being designed only for peaceful uses because Tehran had been denying visits by IAEA inspectors since August.

Ahmadinejad also said Iran had tested two new types of uranium enrichment centrifuges with a capacity "a few times higher than the existing centrifuges" currently in use.

Up to now, Iran has been enriching with only a fragile, inefficient 1970s vintage machine known as the P-1, adapted from a model obtained from former Pakistani-run nuclear smugglers.

"The Iranian nation ... is a nation that would achieve what it wants despite enmities and enemies," Ahmadinejad said.

Foreign nuclear analysts believe Tehran has yet to prove it has mastered industrial-scale enrichment of uranium, the key to making fuel in large, usable quantities and the most technically difficult aspect of producing nuclear power.

The United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain said on Wednesday they would ask European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana to invite Tehran to a meeting to find "a diplomatic solution to this critical issue."

Despite reaching out to Tehran, analysts and diplomats say the Obama administration would be realistic about its chances of a breakthrough and was aware that Iran may use talks to buy time to complete its nuclear program.