Ahmadinejad says Iran needs 100,000 centrifuges for nuke program

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that his country wants to have 100,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported.

"We intend to have 100,000 centrifuges and, God willing, Iran will be able to meet its needs in nuclear fuel by next year," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

The Iranian president said last week that Iran intended to launch 60,000 centrifuges in its nuclear program.

Iran has so far built two cascades of 164 centrifuges each for uranium enrichment, which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, in much higher grades, the core of an atom bomb.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini confirmed earlier this month Iran's plan to install 3,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment by March 2007.

Asked whether Tehran would execute its plan to install 3,000 centrifuges by the end of the current Iranian year, which will end on March 20, 2007, the spokesman answered that "Iranian officials and experts are still seeking to carry out this (plan)."

The United States has been seeking to impose sanctions on Iran through the UN Security Council on the grounds that Tehran is developing a nuclear-weapon program under the guise of a civilian- use program.

However, Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and voiced hope for talks on the nuclear standoff. But the Islamic Republic rejected a prerequisite of suspending nuclear work for such talks.

Source: Xinhua