Iran launches first atom fuel production plant

On the occasion of National Nuclear Day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the country's first nuclear fuel production complex as his top advisor said Tehran would study a "constructive" offer for nuclear talks from six world powers.

"This is the first nuclear fuel complex," the official and manager of one of the complexes, Vajihollah Asadi, said. "100 percent Iranian and the president will inaugurate this."

A day after insisting Tehran has no plans to build an atom bomb, Ahmadinejad was also expected to announce the testing of a new generation of centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.

The projects, both in central Isfahan province, are likely to trigger fresh concerns among the international community which has repeatedly urged Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program completely.

Invitation for talks

In a bid to defuse tensions, six world powers led by Washington on Wednesday invited Iran for direct talks on the program which they suspect is aimed at making atomic weapons but which Tehran insists is civilian and purely peaceful.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France, and Germany said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expected to invite Iran for direct talks on its nuclear plans.

"We reaffirm our unity of purpose and collective determination through direct diplomacy to resolve our shared concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, in line with the package proposals for cooperation with Iran," the statement said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington will participate fully in the talks.

"There's nothing more important than trying to convince Iran to cease its effort to obtain nuclear weapons," Clinton said.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a top advisor to Ahmadinejad, responded on Thursday by saying that Tehran will study the "constructive proposal."

Uranium enrichment is at the heart of global fears that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons because the process can be used both to make nuclear fuel and the fissile core of an atom bomb.

Iran has defied five U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for a freeze in its enrichment activities, including three resolutions imposing sanctions.

There's nothing more important than trying to convince Iran to cease its effort to obtain nuclear weapons

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Demonstrations against Obama

But around 30 hard-line Islamist students protested on Thursday against U.S. President Barack Obama and the expected talks, an AFP photographer said.

Marking the 30th anniversary the breakdown of diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran, the students gathered outside the complex in Tehran that used to house the U.S. embassy and chanted "Death to America!"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meanwhile, piled pressure on Tehran Thursday by saying it must convince the world that its nuclear program has "exclusively peaceful" purposes.