Iran to install 3,000 centrifuges

Source: Xinhuanet | 12-26-2006 09:56

TEHRAN, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iran says it will begin installing 3,000 centrifuges at a uranium enrichment plant as of Sunday in response to a U.N. Security Council resolution, the Kayhan newspaper said.

Iran''s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani speaks during a press conference in Tehran. (AFP, File Photo)

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told the newspaper that Iran will start from Sunday installing at its Natanz uranium enrichment plant 3,000 centrifuges.

"As of today, we will start the activities at the site of the 3,000 centrifuge machines in Natanz and we will drive it with full speed," Larijani was quoted as saying.

"This is our immediate response to the U.N. Security Council resolution," he added.

Larijani's remarks came just hours after the U.N. Security Council passed the resolution that demands Iran end all uranium enrichment-related work.

Tehran condemned the resolution as illegal, insisting its nuclear program is peaceful.

Shortly after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear activities, the Iranian Foreign Ministry began to lash out at the resolution as an "illegal measure."

Iran considers the new U.N. Security Council resolution as "an illegal measure taken outside the framework of its duty and against the U.N. Charter," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried on state television.

Natanz is the plant where Iran conducts uranium enrichment.

The United States accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the cover of a peaceful program, a charged repeatedly denied by Iran.

Editor:Du Xiaodan