Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's top authority, said on Tuesday the Islamic Republic had scored a victory over its nuclear programme.

In his first public comment on the nuclear issue since a United Nations watchdog report last week, Khamenei praised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's handling of it.

"One example of an advance by the Islamic system has been the nuclear issue, in which the Iranian nation has honestly and seriously achieved a great victory ... ," Khamenei was quoted by state radio as telling Iranian officials.

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