Iran has manufactured the first batch of uranium yellowcake, the raw material used for nuclear fuel production, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced Monday.

He spoke at a ceremony to mark the shipment of the first batch to Isfahan's Uranium Conversion Facility, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.

He also said Tehran will inaugurate a new unit in the next three months to produce plate fuel for the country's nuclear research reactors that produce radioisotopes for medical uses.

"We will have the capability to produce plate fuel in the next year," Salehi said at a meeting with the officials of Iran's Chamber of Commerce in Tehran on Monday.

Salehi, who formerly headed the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, had last year stressed the country's ability to convert enriched uranium into fuel plates to supply fuel for the Tehran research reactor, saying the first consignment of 20-percent enriched fuel for the reactor will be ready as soon as the next year.

"We will have the capability to produce plate fuel in the next year," Salehi said, addressing the audience in a ceremony to mark shipment of the first batch of Iran's home-produced uranium yellowcake - the raw material used for nuclear fuel production - to Isfahan's Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF).
Reiterating Iran's ability to enrich uranium to the purity level of 20% to produce fuel plates for the Tehran research reactor, he mentioned at the time that the country has produced about 35kg of 20% enriched uranium, "which means that the western claims about Iran's inability to do so have all been wrong and unfounded," the Fars News Agency reports.

The report further states that "after western suppliers shrugged off Iran's request for the supply of nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the AEOI to provide and install the necessary equipments to start enriching uranium to the purity level of 20% to feed the research reactor which produces radioisotopes for medicinal use."

The Iranian nuclear program remains a major bone of contention in international politics with the USA and the EU being especially concerned that it could be developed to produce weapons-grade uranium. Iran, which is technically entitled to the development of a nuclear program for peaceful purposes under the international Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, has rejected these accusations.