Iran plans to install 50,000 centrifuges by 2014

Tehran now has around 6,000 centrifuges tcapable of producing highly enriched uranium (U-235) that could fuel nuclear bombs.

Iran’s government announced last week that it plans to produce 50,000 centrifuges as part of its nuclear program over the next five years.

The Tehran regime currently has around 6,000 centrifuges that are capable of producing highly enriched uranium (U-235) that could fuel nuclear bombs.

Gholamreza Aqazadeh, head of Iran’s Nuclear Energy Organization, said on an Iranian television program Feb. 25 that Iran will install 50,000 centrifuges in the next five years. The comment was made during a news conference in Iran with Sergey Kiriyenko, chief of the Russian Federal Nuclear Energy Agency. The Russian official was in the country with a 15-man delegation to take part in the “pre-commissioning” earlier in the day of the Bushehr nuclear plant. Russia and Iran now say they will operate the plant cooperatively.

The large number of centrifuges would give the Iranians the capability of producing large quantities of highly enriched uranium for nuclear warheads for its medium-range Shihab missiles and for a future long-range missile.

The comments by Agazadeh come as the International Atomic Energy Agency recently issued another report criticizing Iran for illegal uranium enrichment.

The IAEA director general’s report, dated Feb. 19, stated that “there remain a number of outstanding issues which give rise to concerns, and which need to be clarified, to exclude the existence of possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.”

“As indicated in those reports, for the Agency to be able to address these concerns and make progress in its efforts to provide assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, it is essential that Iran, inter alia, provide the information and access requested by the Agency,” the report said.

The agency requested a meeting with Iranian officials to address the issues. “The agency has still not received a positive reply from Iran in connection with the agency’s requests and, therefore, has not had access to relevant information, documentation, locations or individuals.”

Iran’s government continues to engage in what U.S. officials call an aggressive “denial and deception” campaign regarding its nuclear program that seeks to portray the program as limited to civilian use while denying any intention of developing nuclear weapons.

Edited and compiled from an article by Bil Gertz, published by World Tribune