Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected Western criticism of Iran's claimed nuclear achievements, state television IRIB reported Wednesday.

"We are the ones who should be critical of the Western approach," Ahmadinejad told IRIB.

The announcement by Ahmadinejad Tuesday that Iran has started installation of 6,000 news centrifuges sparked a rebuke from the United States and Europe.

"Who do they think they are? They are no longer the owners of the world," Ahmadinejad said.

During a ceremony Tuesday night in Tehran marking the so-called "National Day of Nuclear Achievement," the president said the world powers could not stop Iran's nuclear drive.

While accusing the West of following a hostile political approach, he said Iran was acting within regulations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that there was no legal justification to prevent Iran from pursuing civil nuclear technology.

Ahmadinejad rejected once again the United Nations Security Council demand that Iran stop its uranium enrichment process even in exchange for Western incentives. (dpa )