'If Obama repeats sanctions threat, Iran will "speed up" nuke program'

Tehran, Feb. 13 (ANI): Iran has vowed to "speed up" its uranium enrichment program if the Obama administration "dares to repeat threats of tougher sanction against us as much as ten times."

"Even if U.S. President Barack Obama dares to repeat threats of tougher sanction against us as much as ten times, we will still be determined to pursue our enrichment program, but with a much faster pace," Fox News quoted Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, as saying.

Larijani's comments came on the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, as the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the West to stop putting obstacles in his country's path.

"The past 31 years are not enough to awaken a few arrogant and bullying states to their futile efforts to dominate this Islamic nation," Khamenei had said.

Speaking on the same occasion, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted that Iran has become a "nuclear state."

He said Iran has produced the first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium - sufficient strength to power Iran's research reactor - though he did not say how much uranium had been enriched.

However, the White House press secretary Robert Gibbs rejected Ahmadinejad's assertions, saying Iran had "made a series of statements that are based on politics, not on physics." (ANI)