Iran now a nuclear state: Ahmadinejad

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 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, Ahmadinejad told a huge and closely orchestrated crowd of supporters in Tehran's Azadi Square that Iran was now a "nuclear state".

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Obama offered Russia deal on Iran

President Barack Obama sent a secret letter to Russia’s President in February suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defence system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long range weapons, American officials said on Monday.

The letter to President Dmitri A. Medvedev was hand-delivered in Moscow by top administration officials three weeks ago. It said the United States would not need to proceed with the interceptor system, which has been vehemently opposed by Russia since it was proposed by the Bush administration, if Iran halted any efforts to build nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles.

The officials who described the contents of the message requested anonymity because it has not been made public. While they said it did not offer a direct quid pro quo, the letter was intended to give Moscow incentive to join the US in a common front against Iran.

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World worried about its nukes, Iran fires satellite

Iran said on Tuesday it had launched what it described as its first satellite produced domestically as part of an effort to build a space industry. The launch on Monday, coinciding with celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, came at a time when the United States and other powers are worried about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its deployment of long-range ballistic missiles with potential military uses.

It also came soon after President Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward Iran, conditionally offering dialogue after years of increasing tension over fears that Tehran wants to develop nuclear missiles — which Iran’s leaders deny.

The official news agency, IRNA, said the satellite was launched using a Safir-2 rocket and was “successfully set into orbit.” The satellite was named Omid, meaning hope, IRNA said, and was sent into space as a “data-processing satellite project” that began in March 2005 as “the first practical step toward acquiring national space technology.”

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Iran says West fails to stop nuclear advances

Western pressure has failed to stop Iran's nuclear program from advancing, its president said on Wednesday, a day after the United States and the European Union warned of more sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced defiance just a few days before EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expected to travel to Tehran to offer economic and other benefits to Iran if it gives up sensitive atomic work.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, has repeatedly ruled out suspending nuclear activities which it says are solely aimed at generating electricity but which the West suspects are a covert bid to make bombs.

"With God's help today (the Iranian nation) have gained victory and the enemies cannot do a damned thing," Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state television.

The United States and the 27-nation EU, at a summit in Slovenia, said on Tuesday they were ready to impose more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program on top of three rounds of limited U.N. sanctions since late 2006.

Washington has pressed the EU to deny some Iranian banks access to the world financial system. European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said further EU steps could entail a freeze on Iranian bank assets.

"NUCLEAR HEIGHT"

Iran, which says it earned about $70 billion in oil revenue last year, has shrugged off the impact of Western punitive measures on its economy.

An Iranian newspaper this week said Iran was withdrawing assets from European banks and converting some of them into gold and stocks in a bid to neutralize tightening sanctions.

"They've tried by military threats ... and political pressure to stop you from your luminous path but today they have seen that all their planning has failed," Ahmadinejad told the crowd in the western city of Shahr-e Kurd.

"Today the Iranian nation is standing on the nuclear height," said Ahmadinejad, who often attacks the West.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- and Germany agreed last month on an enhanced package of incentives to coax Iran into giving up nuclear enrichment.

Solana is expected to travel to the Iranian capital within the next week to present the package to Iranian officials, but he has played down prospects of a breakthrough.

In 2006, the six countries offered incentives including civil nuclear cooperation and wider trade in civil aircraft and energy but Tehran spurned that offer.

Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for power plants or, if refined much further, provide material for arms.

U.S. President George W. Bush, attending his last summit with the 27-nation EU, said on Tuesday that an "Iran with a nuclear weapon would be incredibly dangerous for world peace."

Ahmadinejad said Bush's "era has ended" and that Iran's foes would not be able to "harm even a centimeter" of its territory.