Despite US sanctions and Western pressure, the Islamic Republic of Iran succeeded in loading the first batch of its home-made uranium rods into the Tehran research reactor on Wednesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled that his country succeeded in producing domestically 20-percent enriched nuclear fuel for Tehran's research reactor.

Stressing that "uranium exploration in Iran had been stepped up," he added that "a new yellowcake processing factory would be pre-launched next month."

Officials said new-generation centrifuges had been installed at Iran's Natanz nuclear facilities that are able to produce three times more enriched uranium than previous models.

A report released by "The Nuclear Iran" website said the country had at the time "finalized production of the 20-percent-enriched fuel for the Tehran research reactor" thanks to the efforts made by a number of Iranian nuclear scientists and through relying on home grown know-how and technology.

The achievement came while the western states refrained from supplying nuclear fuel to the research reactor in violation of their NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) undertakings.

In parallel, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, told European Union foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton that Iran is ready to return to talks.