The announcement is especially loaded: Ahmadinejad said over the weekend that his country had reached a key threshold of 3,000 uranium centrifuges – enough to build a bomb with nine moths to a year. The figure is unverified by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has put the figure of operating centrifuges in Iran closer to 1,900.

And despite an IAEA report that states Iran has made conciliatory gestures toward being more open about its nuclear programme, and which further states that its uranium enrichment capabilities are developing slowly – in contradiction of Ahmadinejad’s assertion – the United States, as revealed by Bellona Web, is ramping up to bomb nuclear installations in Iran.

More and more countries in the Middle East, are meanwhile seeking nuclear power.

Ahmadinejad lambasted western powers for allegedly exerting pressure on the IAEA to deprive Iran of its “legitimate nuclear rights.”

"The Iranian nation is ready to offer its nuclear achievements in the form of educational programmes to the other IAEA members according to the Agency’s regulations and under its supervision," Ahmadinejad said.

The Iranian leader criticised western powers for backing Israel’s “inhumane oppressions,” adding, "The Zionist regime is the example of state terrorism." Ahmadinejad has threatened to “wipe Israel off the map.”

Ahmadinejad said Iran considers its nuclear case as closed and said that most countries have accepted Iran’s rights to possess peaceful nuclear technology.