Ahmadinejad says nuclear report a victory

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report onFriday that Iran was being more transparent about its nuclearprogramme but was not doing enough to clear up all suspicions.

The IAEA also said it had confronted Iran for the firsttime with Western intelligence reports showing work linked tomaking atomic bombs and that Tehran had failed to providesatisfactory answers.

Responding to the report, Iranian officials and media havefocused on what the IAEA said about areas where suspicions havebeen cleared up, which they call a victory, with little mentionof other aspects of the report where doubts remain.

The United States, which is leading efforts to isolateIran, said the report was a good reason to impose more U.N.sanctions. Britain and France have said they hope U.N. SecurityCouncil will vote next week on a third set of penalties.

"(The president) congratulated the leader and the Iraniannation for the historical victory of the Iranian nation in thenuclear issue in the biggest political confrontation withdomineering powers after the victory of the Islamicrevolution," Iranian state television reported.

In his first comments on the report, Ahmadinejad wasaddressing his congratulations to Supreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei who has the final say in all matters of state,including nuclear policy.

Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to master technologyto develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies insistingits efforts are aimed at generating electricity so that it canpreserve more of its huge oil and gas resources for export.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian, writing by Edmund Blair)