Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that his country is now running 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium for its nuclear program, reaching an Iranian goal that could add momentum to efforts to impose new UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The claim appeared at odds with a report by the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday that put the number much lower -- at close to 2,000. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said enrichment had slowed and Iran was cooperating with its nuclear probe, which could fend off calls for a third round of sanctions.
"The West thought the Iranian nation would give in after just a resolution, but now we have taken another step in the nuclear progress and launched more than 3,000 centrifuge machines, installing a new cascade every week," Ahmadinejad said in remarks carried by the state TV Web site on Sunday.
Iran previously announced operating 3,000 centrifuges in April, but the IAEA said at the time that Iran had only 328 centrifuges going at its underground Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran.
In the latest report, drawn up by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the organization put the number of centrifuges enriching uranium in Natanz at close to 2,000 with another 650 being tested.
The 2,000 figure was an increase of a few hundred of the machines over May, when the IAEA last reported on Iran. Still, the rate of expansion was much slower than a few months ago, when the country was assembling close to 200 centrifuges every two weeks.
"The recent report by the UN nuclear watchdog agrees with Iran's approach and the dispute over Iran's nuclear case has ended," Ahmadinejad said. The IAEA report noted an increased willingness by the Iranians to answer questions after years of stonewalling and was seen as putting the brakes on the push for a new sanctions.
The UN Security Council has so far passed two sets of sanctions targeting Iranian individuals and businesses involved in the country's nuclear and missile programs. The resolutions also ordered countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology for these programs.
UN officials have suggested that Iran had slowed its program and increased its cooperation with the agency investigators to avert the new sanctions.
The report said that Iran continued to produce only negligible amounts of nuclear fuel with its centrifuges, far below the level usable for nuclear warheads.
The president's announcements appeared to mark a shift away from that strategy.
Iran's ultimate stated goal for the Natanz facility, the only site now open to full IAEA monitoring, is to run 54,000 centrifuges -- enough for dozens of nuclear weapons a year.
Uranium gas, spun in linked centrifuges, can result in either low-enriched fuel suitable to generate power, or the weapons-grade material that forms the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
The US claims Iran is secretly trying to develop atomic weapons. But Iran insists it wants to master the technology only to meet future power needs and argues it is entitled to enrich under a Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty provision giving all pact members the right to develop peaceful programs.
Patricia Lewis, director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva, said the North Korean agreement on Sunday to set a timeline to disable its nuclear program could show promise for how to handle the Iran situation.
"The US administration didn't want to engage with North Korea and then they changed their minds and look what happened as a result," Lewis said.
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