Ali Akbar Salehi, quoted Tuesday in Kayhan daily, said the technology had been "developed locally" but it would still take around 10 years until Iran could introduce a "safe fuel to the heart of the Bushehr reactor".

The nuclear reactor, Iran's first, is under construction in the south of Iran with help from Russia.

"We have found the way and we do not have any scientific problems," he was quoted as saying.

"Iran has already mastered the technology to extract uranium from mines, to convert the uranium ... and its enrichment, but we must still seek the capacity to produce the uranium rods for use in the Bushehr power station."

The United States charges Iran is hiding a program to build the bomb and has called for the IAEA, which has been investigating the Iranian program since February 2003, to refer the Islamic Republic to the UN Security Council for possible international sanctions.

Iran submitted a new declaration on its nuclear program to the IAEA earlier this month after a similar document last year failed to live up to Iranian promises to fully disclose its nuclear activities.

The earlier declaration left out such sensitive information as Iran's possession of designs for sophisticated P-2 centrifuges that can enrich uranium to bomb-grade levels.

IAEA inspectors have noted a pattern of radiation contamination in Iran which could indicate attempts to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons, diplomats in Vienna where the agency is based have told AFP.

Agency inspectors have reported two such concentrations -- at a Kalaye Electric Company workshop in Tehran and at the Natanz pilot fuel enrichment plant 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of the Iranian capital.

Iran, which claims the patterns are caused by equipment imported through an international black market, has voluntarily suspended enrichment activities at Natanz as a sign of goodwill to the international community.

According to Salehi, the Western powers also want Iran to suspend conversion activities at the Isfahan nuclear plant, capable of producing UF6 material used in centrifuges, but Tehran had refused.

Salehi, who now serves as adviser to Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, revealed that Iranian engineers were building "a 40-megawatt (nuclear) research reactor" and had made good progress.

"At this rate, the reactor will be up and running in six to seven years," he said.

IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei said last week that Iran's cooperation with the agency had been insufficient and he had not drawn any conclusions over the nature of the country's nuclear programme.

Tehran expects the IAEA probe to be completed in June but ElBaradei has said it may take until the end of the year.

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