Iran said on Sunday it has produced a first batch of uranium yellowcake, the raw material for enrichment, insisting the new step “strengthens” its position in upcoming nuclear talks with world powers.

Atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said that having previously been obliged to import yellowcake from abroad, Iran was now “self-sufficient” in the entire nuclear fuel cycle.

“The West had counted on the possibility of us being in trouble over raw material but today we had the first batch of yellowcake from Gachin mine sent to Isfahan (conversion) facility,” Salehi said on state television.

Conversion is the process by which yellowcake is turned into uranium hexafluoride for enrichment.

“We cannot cover the overall need of the Isfahan facility but we will produce a significant part of it” from the Gachin mine near the Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, Salehi said.

“Iran has become self-sufficient in the entire fuel cycle, starting from (uranium) exploration, mining and then turning it into yellowcake and converting it to UF6 and then turning it into fuel plates or pellets,” he said.

He said Iran would formally notify the International Atomic Energy Agency of its yellowcake production but declined to disclose the amount of the first domestically produced batch.

Iran’s announcement comes it prepares to hold a new round of talks with world powers on its controversial nuclear programme in Geneva on Monday.

Salehi said it meant Iran would “go to the negotiations with strength and power.”

Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns about Iran’s nuclear activities as the process can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or in highly extended form the fissile core of an atom bomb.

Iran denies seeking a weapons capability but has pressed on with uranium enrichment in defiance of repeated UN Security Council ultimatums.

A succession of UN sanctions imposed since 2006 prevent Iran from acquiring technology, equipment and raw material for its nuclear programme.