TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that the Islamic republic had mastered the entire nuclear fuel cycle and that it would give a historic slap to any attacker.

 

"Today, Iran has mastered the entire nuclear fuel cycle, from start to finish, thanks to young Iranian scientists," state television quoted the president as saying.

 

He made the remarks at a ceremony at Khorramshahr commemorating the recapture of the town from Iraqi forces in 1982, through one of the bloodiest battles during the eight-year long Iran-Iraq war.

 

"The enemies are looking to plot and want to create differences among Iranians to stop us getting our rights," Ahmadinejad said.

 

"But if they do the slightest damage to the Iranian people, and if they commit the slightest aggression, they will receive a historic slap," he said.

 

Ahmadinejad's remarks came as five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany set to meet in London for new efforts to defuse the crisis over Iran's nuclear issue.