Ahmadinejad says Iran has mastered “full” nuclear fuel cycle

Iran Focus Tehran, Iran, May 24 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic had mastered the full nuclear fuel cycle. He also warned the West that it would get a “lasting and historic slap” from Tehran if it used force to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Today we can proudly announce that Iran has at its disposal the nuclear cycle from zero to 100”, Ahmadinejad told an audience in the south-western city of Khorramshahr in a speech that was aired on state television.

He reiterated that obtaining nuclear capabilities was Iran’s “right”.

“Any thought of aggression against the rights of the Iranian nation will be met with a lasting and historic slap from the people of Iran”, the hard-line president said.

“The enemies of Iran know that they are not capable of harming the Iranian nation in the slightest bit from the outside”, he said.

The United Nations Security Council has demanded that Tehran suspend all its uranium enrichment activities, fearing they may be part of a nuclear weapons program.

“The enemies failed to prevent the Iranian nation from obtaining [nuclear capabilities] through political pressure, plots, and use of international organisations and today are plotting and trying to create [ethnic] divisions and despair to prevent the realisation of all of the Iranian nation’s rights”, he added.

Ahmadinejad made an unannounced visit to the troubled province of Khuzestan, on the border of Iraq, on Wednesday. The province, which has a large population of ethnic Arabs, has been the scene of widespread anti-government protests in recent months.