Skip navigation

Iran says it has 3,000 centrifuges working

Ahmadinejad's announcement defies demands to halt nuclear program

Image: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses thousands people in the northeastern city of Birjandin, on Wednesday, and says that Iran has built a landmark 3,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
AFP - Getty Images
Video
Image: Ali Khamenei
  Who rules Iran?
June 16: NBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel breaks down the power structure within the Islamic republic.

msnbc.com

  Protests in Iran

Most of the footage depicting the unrest was captured on cell phones and posted on YouTube. Click here to see a selection.

Interactive
Image: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iran election
A look at players in the disputed 2009 presidential vote.
Slide show
Iran-Iraq War
  A perilous path
A history of modern Iran and its love-hate relationship with the United States.

more photos

updated 3:54 a.m. ET Nov. 7, 2007

BIRJAND, Iran - Iran has achieved a landmark, with 3,000 centrifuges fully working in its controversial uranium enrichment program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Wednesday.

"We have now reached 3,000 machines," Ahmadinejad told thousands of Iranians in Birjand in eastern Iran, in a show of defiance of international demands to halt the program believed to be masking the country's nuclear arms efforts.

Ahmadinejad has in the past claimed Iran succeeded in installing the 3,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

Wednesday's claim was his first official statement that the plant is now fully operating the 3,000 centrifuges.

Centrifuges are used in enriching uranium, a process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or material for a warhead.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Sponsored LinksGet listed here
Top Online Schools
Find the perfect online school and Boost your Career! Free Info Pack.
www.EarnMyDegree.com

Sponsored links

Resource guide