Iran has shown world powers they cannot block its nuclear progress, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday, but he made no mention of a new message by US President Barack Obama to his country. In a separate recorded speech to mark the Iranian New Year, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said global powers had reached a "dead end".
But he too made no mention of Obamas videotaped offer of a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement. Khamenei said Iran, the worlds fourth-largest oil producer, had managed to limit the impact of the global economic downturn and of sanctions imposed on it over its nuclear activities.
Iran and the United States are embroiled in a dispute over Tehrans nuclear programme, which Washington and its allies suspect is aimed at making bombs. Tehran says the programme is for peaceful power generation. After taking office in January and in a major shift in US policy, Obama offered to extend a hand of peace to Iran if it "unclenched its fist". In an unprecedented video message released to mark Iranian New Year, he called for "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect".
Iran cautiously welcomed the overture on Friday, saying it wanted to see "practical steps". Khamenei hailed tests last month of Irans first nuclear power plant, at Bushehr, as an important development. "This is the results of the progress of our scientists ... which persuaded the whole world that the path of Irans nuclear progress could not be blocked," said Khamenei, Irans top authority with final say on all matters of state. Iran says its needs nuclear energy so that it can export more of its huge oil and gas reserves. Its refusal to halt work which can have both civilian and military purposes has drawn three rounds of limited UN sanctions since late 2006.
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