Iran claims nuclear power triumph

He was speaking in the city of Bushehr two days after Russia completed delivery of nuclear fuel for the Iran's first nuclear power station.

This is likely to begin operations later this year.

The UN Security Council is currently considering imposing new sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

In his speech, Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran had overcome the bullying of the West and changed the political climate of the world.

"We are moving towards the summit of our nuclear path. The political issue of our nuclear programme - which was our biggest political challenge since the revolution - is about to end in favour of the Iranian nation"
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mr Ahmadinejad invited the West to come forward and join Iran in building new nuclear power plants. Otherwise, he said that Iran would push ahead on its own.

"Don't come back to us in four years with new proposals", he said, "because by then it'll be too late."

Mr Ahmadinejad's offer of co-operation seems to have been only a rhetorical gesture, BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says.

Elsewhere in the speech he warned that those who supported Israel shared responsibility for genocide and would be put on trial.

To western leaders he warned "your mighty palaces will fall through the grace of God".

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