Tchah! Iran's nuke announcement unimpressive: US

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The United States has said it was not impressed at all by the latest Iranian claim of progress on its nuclear programme, saying the "hyped" move was calibrated mostly for the domestic audience. "One thing is absolutely clear, Iran is clearly feeling the pressure of its international and diplomatic isolation of the increasing economic pressure on it," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday unveiled on state television what was described as Iran's first domestically produced, 20-per cent enriched nuclear fuel for Tehran's research reactor. 

"With regard to this news about activity at that reactor, we frankly don’t see a lot new here. This is not big news. In fact, it seems to have been hyped. The Iranians have, for many months, been putting out calendars of accomplishments, and based on their own calendars, they are many, many months behind. This strikes us as calibrated mostly for a domestic audience," Nuland said.