Iran's president says a recent U.N. nuclear agency report that credits Tehran with progress in revealing details about its nuclear program is a great victory for Iran.
Iranian state media quote Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as making his remarks late Wednesday at a prayer session in Tehran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency report he referred to also said Iran continues to defy U.N. demands to stop enriching uranium. That process can be used to make nuclear weapons.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, is preparing to meet EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in London on Friday. The meeting takes place ahead of a key EU report on Iran's atomic program.
Iran said Tuesday it plans to present new initiatives to the European Union this week aimed at resolving the dispute about Tehran's nuclear program.
But an Iranian spokesman ruled out a suspension of uranium enrichment.
Solana must report to the U.N. Security Council by the end of this month on Iran's willingness to comply with international demands that it freeze uranium enrichment. His report could determine whether the council imposes a third set of sanctions on Iran.
In other news, an Iranian news agency (Fars) quotes a Russian nuclear official as saying IAEA inspectors are set Thursday to finish sealing uranium fuel that Russia intends to send to an Iranian nuclear power plant. The agency says sealing the fuel will be a key step for Russia in its efforts to ship the uranium to Iran's Russian-built Bushehr plant.
The United States and other Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian energy program. Tehran denies the charge.
