TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran is now a nuclear country implying that Iran has achieved nuclear know-how for energy purposes.

The United States and its allies have been exerting political and propaganda pressure and have issued resolutions against Iran over its nuclear program, however, all their efforts have failed and Iran has now become a nuclear country, Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the local satellite Press TV.

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Addressing a crowd in the northern city of Karaj on Tuesday, the Iranian president said that cooperation rather than confrontation is the only way to resolve Iran's nuclear energy program, according to the report.

"We are open to cooperation based on our rights," he added.

Ahmadinejad warned Western countries that Iran would give a "regretting" response to anyone who "intends to prevent Iran from achieving its rights," according to Press TV.

He dismissed the sanction 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."

According to earlier reports, the United States and the European Union prepared to impose a new round of sanctions against Iran in the following year over Tehran's refusal to halt its controversial nuclear program.

The West has long accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under civilian disguise, although Tehran has always denied such charges.