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Last update - 22:08 08/04/2008
Ahmadinejad: We've added 6,000 centrifuges to nuke program
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press
Tags: Iran, nuclear, IAEA 

Iran has begun installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, state television quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Tuesday.

Iran already has about 3,000 centrifuges operating in Natanz, and the new announcement is seen as a show of defiance of international demands to halt a nuclear program the U.S. and its allies say is aimed at building nuclear weapons. It also brings Iran one step closer to developing a critical mass of uranium needed to build an atomic bomb.

The president announced the start of the phase of installing 6,000 new centrifuges in Natanz, the television reported.
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Centrifuges are machines that can enrich uranium to a low level to produce nuclear fuel or a high level for use in a weapon. Iran insists its nuclear program is solely focused on the peaceful production of energy.

Ahmadinejad made Tuesday's announcement as he toured the Natanz facility in central Iran. The television also quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that other activities have been carried out in Natanz that he would announce later Tuesday.

The president's trip was scheduled to coincide with Iran's National Day of Nuclear Technology, marking the second anniversary of when Iran first enriched uranium on April 8, 2006.

Ahmadinejad is widely expected to confirm for the first time that Iran has installed hundreds of more sophisticated centrifuges that can enrich uranium faster.

The workhorse of Iran's enrichment program is the P-1 centrifuge, which is run in cascades of 164 machines. But Iranian officials confirmed in February that they had started using the IR-2 centrifuge that can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate.

Iranian state television didn't say if the installation of the 6,000 new centrifuges included the older P-1 or the advanced IR-2 centrifuges.

Diplomats in Vienna told The Associated Press on Thursday that Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced centrifuges at Natanz.

One diplomat said more than 300 of the centrifuges have been linked up in two separate units in Iran's underground enrichment plant and a third was being assembled. He said the machines apparently are more advanced than the thousands already running underground, suggesting they could be the
sophisticated IR-2 centrifuge.

But a senior diplomat said that while the new work appeared to include
advanced centrifuges, they were not IR-2s. Both diplomats are linked to the Vienna-based International Agency for Atomic Energy, the U.N. nuclear
watchdog, but asked for anonymity because their information wasconfidential.

A total of 3,000 centrifuges is the commonly accepted figure for a nuclear enrichment program that is past the experimental stage and can be used as a platform for a full industrial-scale program that could churn out enough enriched material for dozens of nuclear weapons.

Iran says it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that
ultimately will involve 54,000 centrifuges.

The U.N. has passed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend enrichment.

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      1.   Sanctions are not only useless, they are biased 12:18  |  Natallie Durson 08/04/08
      2.   The UN and its sanctions are useless. Iran already 12:26  |  viking 08/04/08
      3.   For Natallie # 1 12:43  |  Clickfool 08/04/08
      4.   We (Israel) Will Hold (Ras)Putin Directly Responsible 12:49  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 08/04/08
      5.   #1 Natallie Durson: Wrong on All Counts 12:55  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 08/04/08
      6.   Irrelevenatallie 13:12  |  Jeff 08/04/08
      7.   Well done Natallie!! 13:17  |  Michael 08/04/08
      8.   Ovadiah ben Avraham 13:39  |  Natallie Durson 08/04/08
      9.   ISRAEL WAS right all along about Iranian intentions 13:40  |  PETER SM 08/04/08
      10.   Ovadia`s Convoluted Logic 13:45  |  LicensedDriver 08/04/08
      11.   Can`t sleep Natallie ? 13:53  |  Stephen 08/04/08
      12.   To PETER SM 13:54  |  Sunni 08/04/08
      13.   Lets be honest ; The IR-2 is not going to change much. 13:58  |  Stephen. 08/04/08
      14.   AHMADINEJAD = CAPTAIN RAMIUS 14:00  |  indrajaya 08/04/08
      15.   Go Iran ,go! You are a sovereing nation that has the right to 14:03  |  lakshmi 08/04/08
      16.   CFOOL rushes in. 54000 centrifuges planned.Why? 14:07  |  PETER SM 08/04/08
      17.   re: Natallie 14:14  |  SOI 08/04/08
      18.   Arms Race 14:15  |  the truth 08/04/08
      19.   Kudos to Iran 14:17  |  POP 08/04/08
      20.   Kudos to Iran 14:17  |  POP 08/04/08
      21.   Stephen 14:24  |  Natallie Durson 08/04/08
      22.   #14 No princess , Moe like Ahab 14:32  |  Panther Jet 08/04/08
      23.   SOI 14:39  |  Natallie Durson 08/04/08
      24.   SUNNI obviously not ALL Sunnis.Gulf states Saudis 14:39  |  PETER SM 08/04/08
      25.   The three stooges: Durson/Lakshmi/Clikfool Ipso and Factless 14:42  |  Panther Jet 08/04/08
      26.   # 21, PANTHER JET 14:44  |  indrajaya 08/04/08
      27.   We can?t afford to wait : Time has come for action. 14:46  |  Jean Van Daem 08/04/08
      28.   Larry Mo and Curly part 2 14:47  |  Panther Jet 08/04/08
      29.   They ought to build about 6,000,00- centrifuges 15:16  |  John Mackie 08/04/08
      30.   Iran 2008. Detonation will be timed politically: 15:28  |  Stephen. 08/04/08
      31.   Durson the madman supports nuclear proliferation 15:34  |  Joe Sittizen 08/04/08
      32.   Panther Jet - I will make your day 15:36  |  Natallie Durson 08/04/08
      33.   Natallie Durson summed up 15:41  |  Joe Sittizen 08/04/08
      34.   For Panther Jet # 25 15:47  |  Clickfool 08/04/08
      35.   What the fuss america is building 50,000 centerfugies in Ohio 15:56  |  SHIA 4 EVER 08/04/08
      36.   Who`s violating what? 16:00  |  Mark 08/04/08
      37.   Iran has a legal right to enrich uranium.... 16:09  |  Deborah 08/04/08
      38.   Natalie and click 16:13  |  George 08/04/08
      39.   POP Kudos to Iran 16:15  |  dave 08/04/08
      40.   Dear Nathalie 16:35  |  Greg 08/04/08
      41.   to # 8 IAEA and the NPT 16:41  |  Joe 08/04/08
      42.   Look who`s talking back 16:42  |  Purple Canary 08/04/08
      43.   USA Must Bomb Iran Now!!! 16:45  |  fred 08/04/08
      44.   The BOTTOM Line 16:48  |  Mark Lincoln 08/04/08
      45.   25 Panther Jet,exactly! The chapter & verse that you quote from 17:01  |  lakshmi 08/04/08
      46.   Whatever the numbers are... 17:31  |  ManInTheMiddle 08/04/08
      47.   INDRAJAYA = IDIOTJAYA 17:33  |  Asian Observer 08/04/08
      48.   Natalie Dursons main flaw! 17:35  |  DR 08/04/08
      49.   #43 - Fred you ain`t going to like the results 17:45  |  spyguy 08/04/08
      50.   Joe Sittizen - slander is his game 18:06  |  Natallie Durson 08/04/08
      51.   Lovely, I seem to have struck a nerve! 18:17  |  Natallie Durson 08/04/08
      52.   # 47, ASIAN OBSERVER 18:34  |  indrajaya 08/04/08
      53.   Like Hitler in 1937 18:36  |  Fortuna Benmayor 08/04/08
      54.   Why are Durson and Cfool celebrating? 18:37  |  Bigfacedog 08/04/08
      55.   The arabs should ally with soon-to-be nuclear Iran. Only then, 18:44  |  Aounist 08/04/08
      56.   Bottom line = Israel has no legitimicy in this issue 18:45  |  Mark B. 08/04/08
      57.   22 Panther jet,sorry,Ishmael Melville intended that for the white 18:57  |  lakshmi 08/04/08
      58.   Spyguy - Fred Wants to Kill US Soldiers 19:00  |  Mark of Lewiston 08/04/08
      59.   Natallie Durson, it is not that simple 19:01  |  Mark B. 08/04/08
      60.   #46, man in the middle 19:07  |  DR 08/04/08
      61.   #57, Lakshmi, a quick question! 19:10  |  DR 08/04/08
      62.   For Fred # 43 19:18  |  Clickfool 08/04/08
      63.   some idiot.. 19:28  |  bashar 08/04/08
      64.   54 Big Faced Dog,you don`t understand,israel used nukes for the 19:39  |  lakshmi 08/04/08
      65.   Clickfool and Israel`s actions! 19:48  |  DR 08/04/08
      66.   #2 Viking; Ahmedinejad can not kiss his ass. he appears to suffer 20:03  |  Max Zinger, P. Chimi 08/04/08
      67.   THANKS to Joe Sittizen for exposing folly of Natallie Durson 20:03  |  Theodor 08/04/08
      68.   #65 DR, It is a regretable state of affairs that a newspaper like 20:13  |  Max Zinger P. Chimis 08/04/08
      69.   Lakshmi again ignores history! 20:15  |  DR 08/04/08
      70.   if it wasn`t for clickfool i wouldn`t be reading Haaretz 20:43  |  reza SHAH 08/04/08
      71.   DR - you really mustn`t try misdirection # 65 20:46  |  Clickfool