#news Iran says high-grade nuclear fuel to be produced in 2011

TEHRAN, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Tuesday rejected the reports that it has halted uranium enrichment activities and said that it will produce high-grade nuclear fuel for the Tehran reactor in September 2011.

In an interview with the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday, Ali-Akbar Salehi, head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) , said the reports are "unfounded news fabricated by western media and press."

Such false news ahead of the talks with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany (G5+1) are for propagandistic purposes, he said.

In its future nuclear movement, Iran will never listen to any unfounded news fabricated by western media, he was quoted as saying.

According to some recent media reports, Iran has faced technical problems in running its centrifuges used for nuclear enrichment.

Earlier on Tuesday, Salehi said that Iran has frustrated the enemies over viral Stuxnet attack on its nuclear plant system aimed to break down its nuclear program.

"The Stuxnet virus penetrated the (nuclear) plant one and a half years ago ... (but) the nuclear researchers of the country have blocked the virus," he was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying.

Earlier in October, Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi announced that Iran has detected and thwarted the virus aimed at infecting Iran's nuclear plant system.

The Islamic Republic said earlier that the computer worm, Stuxnet, has infected 30,000 IP addresses in Iran, including the personal computers of the staff at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Stuxnet is the first discovered worm that spies on and reprograms industrial systems. It is specifically written to attack SCADA systems which are used to control and monitor industrial processes.

Also on Tuesday, Salehi said that the actual process of producing high-grade nuclear fuel for Tehran's research reactor would start in September 2011, IRNA reported.

Addressing a local gathering in Tehran, Salehi said that 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel sample had previously been produced by Iranian scientists, the report said.

"Production of the 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel in Iran is a firm response to the West," Salehi said, adding that Iran currently possesses a large site to produce 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel, according to IRNA.

In February, Iran announced that it would start enriching high- grade uranium to a purity of 20 percent since the West failed to provide Tehran with the fuel.

Western countries have accused Iran of covertly building nuclear weapons, but Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and aims to generate electricity for civilian use.

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