Iran claims win in nuclear row

TEHRAN, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Tehran has won the nuclear standoff with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, an Iranian foreign policy official said.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the national security and foreign policy commission in the Iranian Parliament, said Iran has more than 7,000 uranium centrifuges spinning at nuclear research facilities despite pressure from the so-called P5+1 group of superpowers.

"Iran has won the unequal and major nuclear standoff with the P5+1," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted him as saying.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, announced Tuesday that fuel rods were deployed at the nuclear reactor at Bushehr.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, though Western allies say the program is a cover for a nuclear weapons program.

The United Nations slapped Iran with sanctions in June because it wasn't cooperating with the international community on nuclear issues. The United States and European Union followed suit in July with sanctions of their own.

"Despite all efforts and policies of America and the European Union to put sanctions on Iran, the fuel of the Bushehr power plant will be loaded into its core," said Boroujerdi.