By Marc Wolfensberger and Ladane Nasseri Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) — Iran will soon announce a nuclear breakthrough, state-run Mehr News agency reported. “This great scientific achievement is the result of a long-term research project’’ that was achieved “on time,’’ Mehr News said. `The announcement will reinforce Iran’s position as a nuclear country,’’ the news agency said, adding that a “top official’’ would announce the news. It didn’t provide a timeframe. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on April 11 announced that the country had enriched uranium to a grade that could be used in a nuclear reactor. Iran said yesterday it’s ready to hold “serious negotiations’’ on its nuclear program, without saying whether it will stop enriching uranium, the main condition in an EU incentives plan. The United Nations Security Council has given Iran until Aug. 31 to accept the EU-led proposals, and suspend uranium enrichment, or face the threat of economic sanctions.