Iran Says It’s Installing New Centrifuges

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Iran Says It's Installing New Centrifuges

By NAZILA FATHI and WILLIAM J. BROAD

Published: April 9, 2008

TEHRAN — Iran announced on Tuesday a significant expansion of its

plans to enrich uranium despite the United Nations Security Council's

demand that it halt the program. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said

during a visit to Iran's main enrichment complex at Natanz that the

country had started installing 6,000 centrifuges at the facility, in

addition to the 3,000 centrifuges already at the facility.

Western experts cautioned that Tehran's technical claims often exceed

its grasp and in the past they have greeted such pronouncements by

Iran with skepticism. While they have confirmed that Iran currently

has 3,000 operating centrifuges, there was no confirmation on the

latest claims.

If it is successful, Iran's action would triple the size of its

industrial base and mark a major expansion in its uranium enrichment

program. Enrichment can make fuel for civilian nuclear reactors or,

if taken to higher levels, nuclear warheads.

The United States and some Western countries have accused Iran of

having a clandestine nuclear weapons program, but Iran contends that

its program is peaceful and for civilian purposes only.

Mr. Ahmadinejad made the announcement on the anniversary of Iran's

first production of enriched uranium, in 2006, when it boasted of

joining the world's " nuclear club. "

The United States immediately criticized the plan. " Today's

announcement reflects the Iranian leadership's continuing violation

of international obligations and refusal to address international

concerns, " said L. Schulte, the United States representative

to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is based in Vienna.

France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, called Iran's uranium

enrichment effort " dangerous. " He said further sanctions against

Tehran might be necessary.

Albright, a former international arms inspector and the

president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a

private group in Washington that tracks nuclear proliferation, said

that the 3,000 existing centrifuges appeared to be running poorly and

that Iran's expansion might be more about political posturing than

technical advance.

" They really haven't run much uranium through them successfully, " he

said in an interview.

Mr. Albright added, however, that if Iran could master the difficult

task of getting 9,000 centrifuges to run smoothly without breaking

down periodically, that would, theoretically, expand its ability to

make bomb fuel for one to three or so nuclear weapons a year.

President Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday that

the technological achievements of the program were more significant

than the new centrifuges. " These technological achievements will soon

transform the country's industry, " he said.

Women sang at the ceremony with the president and young men with pony

tails danced with blue shawls and white banners, despite religious

restrictions that ban dancing and women from singing. Mr. Ahmadinejad

was shown on state television shedding tears when the announcer paid

tribute to the martyrs of the eight-year war with Iraq.

The president had said he would make another announcement at the

ceremony later Tuesday evening about Iran's nuclear achievements. But

he referred only to " new machines " that were installed and were much

smaller but " five times more efficient than the current machines. "

It was widely believed that he would announce progress in installing

a new generation of centrifuges known as IR-2 centrifuges. The IR-2

model is a modified, more advanced and reliable machine than the P-1

that Iran had been using, and can enrich uranium much more quickly

Iranian authorities said in February that they had started using IR-2

centrifuges experimentally. Western analysts cautioned, however, that

the planned expansion of 6,000 new centrifuges in the underground

industrial facility at Natanz would probably involve the older P-1

model and that any IR-2 expansions would probably be limited to

experimental work.

Since 2006, the United Nations Security Council has imposed three

sets of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt the enrichment

program. Members of the Security Council — Britain, France, the

United States, China, Russia — as well as Germany were expected to

meet in Shanghai on April 16 to discuss ways to resume talks with

Iran over the nuclear program, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign

Ministry, Jiang Yu, said on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

However, Iran has shown no sign of compromise over its nuclear

program since Mr. Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005.

The president brushed off any compromise on Tuesday and said that the

Iranian people have refused " to play according to the plans of big

powers. "

" I am sure that they will fail in the same way that they have failed

in the past 30 years, " he said, referring to Western countries'

opposition to Iran's enrichment program.

In a related matter, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported on

Tuesday that a court had given a suspended two-year prison sentence

to a former nuclear negotiator, Hossein Moussavian, who was part of

the Iranian negotiating team that suspended enrichment under the

previous reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. The news agency's Web

site said that Mr. Moussavian had been charged with interfering in

national security.

Nazila Fathi reported from Tehran, and J. Broad from New York.