TEHRAN, Iran — Iran says it has set a 2020 target date to build its first experimental nuclear fusion reactor, a feat that has yet to be achieved by any nation.

Iran said in July that its nuclear agency began research on the experimental reactor.

Nuclear fusion, the process powering the sun and stars, has so far only been mastered as a weapon, producing the thermonuclear explosions of hydrogen bombs. It has never been harnessed for power generation.

Asghar Sediqzadeh, the head of the new fusion research centre, is quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency as saying the centre will hire 100 experts to join the national project.

Tehran is not known to have carried out anything but basic fusion research.