Defiant Iran raises the nuclear ante

Raising the ante, a defiant Iran on Wednesday announced it has made new strides in its nuclear programme with president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad witnessing the loading of indigenously produced nuclear fuel rods into Teheran's research reactor.

Appearing dramatically on television at the site of the reactor, Ahmadinejad dared the western powers to try to prevent Iran from proceeding with its peaceful nuclear programme. ''Western countries are arrogant powers of the world, they have looted all of us,'' he declared. ''You (the western powers) will not talk, you will want us to sit on the table and sign whatever you give. But that time is over now.''
 
Asserting that Iran was not producing bombs, he claimed that having access to nuclear technology did not mean war. ''Anywhere people hear the world 'nuclear' they think of bombs,'' he said. But that was not the case with Iran.

Ahmadinejad also accused the West of killing his country's nuclear scientists. About five scientists have died under strange circumstances recently, with Iran accusing Israeli agents of masterminding their assassination.

Israel has, on the other hand, alleged that Iran was behind the explosion in New Delhi on Monday, in which an Israeli diplomat's wife was injured after a motorcyclist stuck a magnetic bomb on the rear of her car. A similar device was defused in Tbilisi in Georgia on the same day. And on Tuesday, three bombs blew up in Bangkok, and an Iranian lost his leg after a bomb he flung at a taxi fell on him.

With the US and other western powers tightening the sanctions against Iran, tensions in the Middle East have risen sharply in recent weeks. Iran had earlier threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, preventing the flow of oil. The US has also been flexing its muscles, sending warships into the Gulf.

Ahmadinejad also revealed that 3,000 additional centrifuges had been added to Iran's uranium enrichment effort, taking the total to 9,000. ''Western countries can no more stop us,'' he said on television. ''All our enemies are too weak. The US is not at all powerful. We have shown what we can do.''

Meanwhile, Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, on Wednesday replied to a note sent by Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, suggesting that the country return to talks over its nuclear programme.

''Iran welcomes the readiness of the P5+1 group to return to negotiations in order to take fundamental steps toward further cooperation,'' Jalili was quoted by Irna, the official news agency.

The P5+1 group includes the five permanent UN Security Council members (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China), plus Germany.