Tehran – Iran said Monday that it is installing 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium at one of its nuclear facilities, effectively confirming that its nuclear program is running behind schedule as the devices were to have been in place two weeks ago.
Over the weekend, Iran dismissed reports from Europe that its uranium-enrichment program had been stalled.
But Iran had said the installation of the 3,000 centrifuges at its facility in Natanz would be completed by the end of 2006. Its failure to do so has prompted reports that it is encountering technical difficulties in mastering large-scale enrichment.
Diplomats in Vienna – where the International Atomic Energy Agency is based – said Thursday that the enrichment program in Natanz had ground to a halt. The diplomats said that suggests possible Iranian hesitancy to provoke U.N. sanctions harsher than the relatively mild penalties agreed on last month.
Or, they said, it could be a sign of headway by relative moderates in the leadership unhappy with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s confrontational manner.
Some diplomats linked to the IAEA said some intelligence services believed the Natanz site also could be a front. While attention is focused on Natanz, Iranian scientists and military personnel could be working on a secret enrichment program at one or more unknown sites that is much more advanced, the diplomats said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity in exchange for discussing restricted information.
Other signs point to technical difficulties at Iran’s nuclear facilities. Earlier this month, Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told reporters that about 50 centrifuges had exploded during a test.
“We had installed 50 centrifuges. One night, I was informed that all the 50 centrifuges had exploded. … Ahmadinejad called me and said: ‘Build these machines even if they explode 10 times more,”‘ Aghazadeh was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
Iran has condemned the U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on it, and said it would move ahead with its nuclear program.
