Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday flaunted his country's latest nuclear achievements in defiance of Western sanctions and rising tensions with Israel.

Analysts believed that under the circumstances of strained ties between Tehran and the West, Iran's announcement of nuclear progress will escalate tensions, and provide excuses for the West and Israel to push ahead with further sanctions and harsher measures against Iran.

Besides, the announcement will eclipse upcoming talks over Iran's nuclear issue between Tehran and an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation scheduled for Feb. 21 to22 and a possible restart of nuclear talks with G5+1 countries (five permanant U.N. Security Council members plus Germany).

NUCLEAR ACHIEVEMENTS

At a ceremony in Tehran, Ahmadinejad announced his country's recent nuclear achievements, which include loading a Tehran research reactor with the country's first home-made nuclear fuel rods and unveiling a new generation of centrifuges that were activated in the Natanz nuclear facilities Wednesday for enriching uranium.

He said that Iran has added 3,000 new centrifuges to its uranium enrichment cycle and that the number of active centrifuges in the country now stands at 9,000.

He also asked officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to build four more nuclear research reactors in four corners of the country for further research and producing radioactive medicines.

Also, he said Iran will start to produce new yellow cake, a kind of uranium concentrate powder obtained through the milling and processing of uranium ore, starting on March 20.