Tehran made the claim a day before a new round of nuclear talks with world powers that want to rein in Iran's uranium enrichment — a process that can be used either to make fuel for nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.
Nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran had for the first time delivered domestically mined raw uranium to a processing facility — allowing it to bypass U.N. sanctions prohibiting import of the material. Four rounds of U.N. sanctions have targeted Iran's uranium enrichment program.
Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the uranium ore concentrate, known as yellowcake, was produced at the Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran and delivered to the uranium conversion facility in the central city of Isfahan for reprocessing.
Salehi said the delivery was evidence that last week's mysterious bombings targeting two Iranian nuclear scientists would not slow the country's progress. One of the scientists died and another was wounded.
"Today, we witnessed the shipment of the first domestically produced yellowcake ... from Gachin mine to the Isfahan nuclear facility," said Salehi, whose comments were broadcast live on state television.
The four sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran forbid the supply of nuclear materials to Tehran.
In 2009, Western nations claimed Iran was running out of raw uranium for its nuclear program. Tehran denied it but in recent years sought to extract uranium from its own deposits.
