'Nuclear' Iran marks Islamic revolution

by Jay Deshmukh Jay Deshmukh – Thu Feb 11, 3:03 pm ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran declared itself a nuclear nation on Thursday as it marked the Islamic revolution's 31st anniversary and launched what Washington called an "unprecedented" crackdown on opposition supporters.

The elite Revolutionary Guards and police had warned they would clamp down heavily on any protests which, since they first erupted last June, have threatened the very pillars of the Islamic regime and split the senior clergy.


The State Department said later that US monitoring showed Iran had attempted "a near total information blockade" to deal with the protestors, which a spokeman labelled as an "unprecedented, overwhelming step."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used a keynote address to hundreds of thousands in Azadi (Freedom) Square to boast Iran was now a nuclear nation as he announced the production of its first highly enriched uranium.

"One day they said we cannot enrich uranium, but with the resistance of our leader, nation ... and with the help of God, the Iranian nation has become nuclear," he said, defying mounting Western calls for new UN sanctions.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100211/ts_afp/iranrevolutionanniversary

under obama's watch