Iran: "Very big" news on nuclear program soon

TEHRAN, Iran -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran will soon reveal "very big new nuclear achievements."

Ahmadinejad spoke at a rally in Tehran on Saturday as Iranians marked the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the country's pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamic clerics to power.

Ahmadinejad did not elaborate on the upcoming announcement, but insisted Iran would never give up its uranium enrichment — a process that makes material for reactors as well as weapons.

The West suspects Iran's nuclear program is aimed at producing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

Iran has said it is forced to manufacture nuclear fuel rods, which provide fuel for reactors, on its own since international sanctions ban it from buying them on foreign markets.