Ahmadinejad: Iran is now a nuclear state

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has downplayed sanction resolutions against the Islamic Republic, saying Iran has now become a nuclear country, the Iranian news agency Press TV reports.

The United States and its allies have been exerting political and propaganda pressure and have issued resolutions against the Iranian nation. All their efforts have failed and Iran has now become a
nuclear country, President Ahmadinejad said in an address to the people of the northern city of Karaj on Tuesday.

He added that world powers have two options in dealing with the Iranian nation, saying they can either go ahead with their previous path of issuing sanctions against the Islamic Republic or interact
with the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian leader also dismissed the sanctions resolutions passed by the United Nations against Iran as "illegal" and added that sanctions would only "strengthen the Iranian nation and accelerate the pace of our progress."