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3RD LD: Iran has successfully enriched uranium, president says+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TEHRAN, April 11_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING INFO WITH PRESIDENT ANNOUNCEMENT) Iran has successfully enriched uranium for the first time and joined the club of nuclear countries, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday. During a nationally televised speech, Ahmadinejad urged the West not to try to force Iran to abandon uranium enrichment. Earlier in the day, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran has successfully operated 164 centrifuges to enrich uranium, the Kuwait News Agency reported. The move is likely to heighten tension over Iran's nuclear development program. The U.N. Security Council adopted a presidential statement late last month asking Iran to completely halt nuclear development activities within 30 days, including the enrichment of uranium. Iran seems to be demonstrating its hard-line position both at home and abroad before International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei visits the country later this month. Iran's nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh, meanwhile, said Tuesday Iran has succeeded in producing uranium enriched to 3.5 percent at its nuclear facilities in Natanz. Aghazadeh made the remark in a nationally televised speech in Mashhad, northeastern Iran. On Monday, Iran's conservative daily Jomhouri Eslami reported that the country had succeeded in producing uranium enriched to 3.5 percent at one of its experimental nuclear facilities. |