Iran steps up uranium enrichment level as Gates says sanctions can work

A day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the global community was not close to an accord with Iran on its nuclear technology, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the country's atomic agency to step up its uranium production.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday that that Iran was “approaching a final agreement” on getting its nuclear fuel processed outside the country, but Gates countered that Saturday while meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "I don’t have the sense that we are close to an agreement,” Gates said.

On Sunday, Gates urged international cooperation in putting pressure on Tehran.

"If the international community will stand together and bring pressure to bear on the Iranian government, I believe there is still time for sanctions and (diplomatic) pressure to work," he said at a press conference with his Italian counterpart in Rome.

Iran's first vice president, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, said Sunday that sanctions would not deter the country from pursuing its "scientific successes," according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Ahmadinejad also claimed on Sunday that advancements in laser technology has enabled Iran to produce missiles impervious to interception.

"The problem of Iran's enemies is that they have not yet built a system to intercept Iranian missiles," Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony honoring Iran's National Center of Laser Sciences and Technologies, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

It was in this speech that Ahmadinejad announced that the country would move full-speed ahead on uranium production.

"Here I announce to the head of the AEOI (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran) to begin the 20 percent enrichment," Ahmadinejad said.

"Of course, if the western countries want to enter interaction and cooperation without any precondition, this path is still open," he added, according to Fars.