Iran adds 3 000 more centrifuges
2012-02-15 21:55
Tehran - Iran has added 3 000 more centrifuges to its uranium enrichment effort, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday as he unveiled progress in his country's controversial nuclear programme.
"Approximately 6 000 centrifuges were working, 3 000 have been added to that amount. [Now] there are 9 000," he said in a speech broadcast on state television.
Iran said on Wednesday it has activated a new generation of centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear site that will greatly speed up its uranium enrichment activities.
"Today we witnessed the activation of the first cascade of these centrifuges," the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation, Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, said in a speech broadcast on state television.
"They increase Iran's capacity to enrich uranium by three times," he said.
"This is a strong and documented response to all the sabotage conducted by the West."
