Iran’s defiant regime boasted this week about the nuclear progress it claims to have made despite growing sanctions and international pressure to halt its nuclear weapons program. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presided over a high-profile televised ceremony in which he inserted what was described as an Iranian-made fuel rod into a nuclear research reactor in Tehran. The regime claims that it needs to enrich uranium to about 20 percent in order to fuel the research reactor, which is an important part of the cover story that it uses to mask its military program. Uranium must be enriched to 90 percent to arm a nuclear weapon.

One nuclear expert questioned whether Iran really had the capability to make fuel rods that would be compatible with the reactor and noted that the fuel needed to be tested to assure that the reactor could be operated safely: “If Iran is really running the reactor with untested fuel plates, then my advice to the residents surrounding the building would be to move somewhere else. It will be unsafe.”

Iran also announced that it had installed a new generation of centrifuges that are capable of enriching uranium more efficiently at its enrichment facility at Natanz. If true, this would accelerate the buildup ofIran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.

The U.S. State Department dismissed Iran’s claims as “hype.” Ahmadinejad’s claims undoubtedly are exaggerated, but they illuminate an underlying truth: His regime is determined to push on with its nuclear program despite international pressure.