From the ICEJ, today:

Ratcheting up his country's defiant stance a notch further on Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted that Israel and its Western backers "cannot do a damn thing to stop Iran's nuclear work."

In a televised speech from Isfahan, site of a key Iranian uranium conversion plant, Ahmadinejad rejected as "illegal" last week’s censure of his nation by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which he claimed was "under pressure of a few superficially powerful countries."

The IAEA passed a resolution last Friday denouncing Iran for constructing a secret enrichment plant near the city of Qom.  On Sunday, Tehran responded by announcing plans to build 10 more uranium enrichment sites.

Ahmadiejad added today that Iran will enrich its uranium to higher levels in direct contravention of international calls to halt its enrichment activities.  He also assured that international sanctions "will have no effect.  Aggressors will regret their action as soon as they put their finger on the trigger."

On Tuesday, Ahmadinejad had insisted "Iran's nuclear issue has been resolved... and there is no need for more talks."  He added that Tehran is "not obliged to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency about our plans to build nuclear sites unless the technology is imported… Friendly relations with the [IAEA] are over."

Meantime, the German news journal Der Spiegel is reporting that Iranian scientists are believed to have successfully simulated the detonation of a nuclear warhead, one of the most technologically challenging problems it would face in developing a nuclear weapon.  Experts believe that it could take Iran as little as a year to acquire the expertise and a sufficient quantity of highly enriched uranium to build a real nuclear warhead.

The same paper also cites intelligence reports as warning that a restructuring has been ordered within the Iranian Defense Ministry which indicates the department responsible for Tehran’s military nuclear program is under government pressure to push ahead with its activities.

Finally, Janes Defense Weeklyreported on Wednesday that it possesses satellite images which prove that construction activity at the site near Qom has increased since the enrichment facility was exposed in October. Iranian officials say they’d like to have the plant up and running by early 2011.

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