A senior Iranian official yesterday dismissed doubts about whether Iran had achieved industrial-scale nuclear fuel production and said scepticism about its program had proved incorrect in the past.
"Maybe they thought we needed more time to reach the industrial stage but due to the efforts of our specialists we have already reached that stage," the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Saeedi, said in comments carried by the Iranian state broadcaster's Web site.
Iran declared on Monday it had begun industrial enrichment of uranium, a process the West fears Iran is using to make bombs.
It also said it had injected uranium gas feedstock into a batch of 3,000 centrifuges it is building.
Monday's declaration by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and senior Iranian nuclear officials was thin on detail and did not include a clear statement on the number of new centrifuges that are in operation.
Russia, Iran's closest powerful ally, said on Tuesday that it was "not aware of any technological breakthroughs."
Diplomats who follow Iran's file have also expressed doubts and a senior German official echoed this uncertainty yesterday.
"There is a good deal of doubt whether there are really 3,000 centrifuges. We will probably get more information in the next few days as IAEA inspectors should be going to Natanz," German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said.
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