Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is expected to claim major progress in his country's nuclear programme at a critical moment in US-Iranian relations.

The announcement, to mark Iran's nuclear technology day, will come as fresh attempts are made to restart talks over Iran's enrichment of uranium for the first time since Barack Obama took office.

Yesterday senior officials from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China instructed the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to make contact with his counterpart in Tehran. The group also welcomed the Obama administration's decision to fully engage in the talks.

Ahmadinejad said his country would welcome talks with Obama if the US president proved "honest" in extending a hand to Iran. But dialogue will depend more on what the Iranian president announces today. "I will have good nuclear news for the honoured Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said. Reports suggest he will claim Iran has perfected techniques for the manufacture of uranium fuel.

But David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, said if that was all Ahmadinejad claimed, there would be relief in the US administration, which fears Iran could begin to use new centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment plant, bringing it closer to bomb-making capabilities.