ESCALATING TENSIONS

Though Ahmadinejad stressed that Iran is ready to share its nuclear know-how with members of the IAEA, Iran's announcement of nuclear progress at this sensitive moment will no doubt deepen the West and Israel's concerns, further aggravate tensions surrounding the nuclear issue, and give more excuses to the West and Israel to impose more sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Also, flaunting one's nuclear progress is not exactly helpful to the upcoming talks between Iran and an IAEA delegation scheduled days later, with Iran being regarded as a black sheep by the world's other nuclear powers.

The IAEA issued a report in November last year alleging that Iran had carried out "organized and systematical" activities "specific to nuclear weapons" at least until the end of 2003.

The report caused a spiral of fallouts over Iran's nuclear issue, and further strained the already tense relations between Tehran and the West.

As a result, the United States and the European Union (EU) adopted a series of sanctions against Iran.

After the EU decided last month to impose an oil embargo and slap economic sanctions on Iran, U.S. President Barack Obama on Feb. 1 ordered the freezing of Iran's assets under U.S. jurisdiction, including those of the country's central bank.

Amid escalating tensions, the IAEA said on Feb. 1 that another meeting between the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran over its nuclear program would take place in Tehran from Feb. 21 to 22.

The decision came after a high-ranking IAEA delegation visited Iran at the end of January, a visit which Iranian media called "positive and constructive."

Yet in the past days, Israel has been accusing Iran of plotting terrorist attacks in different countries, a charge firmly denied by Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday condemned Iran as "the world's largest exporter of terrorism."

He charged Teheran with "undermining world stability" and said that "it attacks innocent diplomats worldwide," referring to Monday's dual terror attacks against Israeli employees at missions in India and Georgia, which wounded one woman, and Tuesday's botched bombing attempts in Bangkok.

Observers said no matter whether these charges are true or not, Iran's international image will be further tarnished.