by Hiedeh Farmani 1 hour, 49 minutes ago
TEHRAN (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran had reached a key goal in its atomic drive by putting into operation more than 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges in defiance of world powers.
His typically defiant announcement came as Iran steps up cooperation with the UN atomic agency to answer questions about its atomic drive, in a move expected to stave off further sanctions for several months.
"They (world powers) thought that by issuing any resolution Iran would back down," Ahmadinejad told Islamist students, referring to the two sanctions resolutions imposed against Tehran by the UN Security Council.
"But after each resolution the Iranian nation took another step along the path of nuclear development," he said, according to the website of state broadcasting.
"Now it has put into operation more than 3,000 centrifuges and every week we install a new series."
The installation of 3,000 centrifuges has always been earmarked by Iran as the key medium-term goal of its nuclear programme which it had originally hoped to reach by March.
A UN atomic energy agency report obtained by AFP last week however said that Iran was still short of 3,000 centrifuges.
It said that as of 19 August Iran had twelve 164-centrifuge cascades operating at its uranium enrichment plant in the central town of Natanz, a total of 1,968 centrifuges.
A further 656 centrifuges were in development, it added.
Gas is fed into the centrifuges to produce enriched uranium, which can be used to make nuclear power and, in highly enriched form, the fissile core of a nuclear bomb.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking to manufacture nuclear weapons but Tehran insists its atomic drive is aimed only at generating electricity for a growing population.
Iran agreed a timetable with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month to answer outstanding questions over its atomic drive and confirm its peaceful nature.
The foreign ministry spokesman warned Iran would "reconsider" its cooperation with the UN atomic agency if the Security Council imposed a third set of sanctions.
"We will continue our cooperation with the IAEA," Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters.
"But if there is a new United Nations (Security Council) resolution we will reconsider our cooperation with the IAEA and we will study different options."
Hosseini did not specify what the options were but top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani has already warned that any further sanctions will render Iran's cooperation with the agency "sterile".
The IAEA has welcomed Iran's willingness to answer the questions on its atomic drive as a "a significant step forward" but the United States has expressed doubts over the agreement.
The agency's director Mohamed ElBaradei warned in an interview due out Monday that Iran may be missing its "last chance" if it fails to resolve the nuclear dispute by the end of the year.
"By November, or December at the latest, we should be able to state whether the Iranians are keeping their promises. If they don't keep them, Tehran will have passed by an important chance, perhaps the last,", ElBaradei told Der Spiegel.
However, the IAEA chief urged international players to "encourage" Iran to cooperate. "Beside sanctions, there must also be encouragement," he said, underlining that "sanctions alone will not bring any durable solution."
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