TEHRAN — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that his country had dramatically expanded the number of machines at its disposal producing enriched uranium, defying international demands for the country to halt the production of nuclear material.
But the hard-line leader, quoted by official and semi-official media, also appeared to suggest that Iran might be willing to stop adding more centrifuges, a condition for preliminary talks to end the diplomatic standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.
Experts played down the significance of Ahmadinejad’s claim.
“It’s not just the number of centrifuges that counts,” said a Western diplomat in Tehran who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It’s whether they’re running and how well.”
Still, he added, Ahmadinejad’s assertion “won’t help” resolve the standoff between Iran and the West.
Ahmadinejad told scholars in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad that Iran possessed more than 5,000 centrifuges, which can produce nuclear material suitable for a power plant or, if highly enriched, an atomic bomb.
A May report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had about 3,500 centrifuges running.
“The West wanted us to stop,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling the scholars. “We resisted, and now they want to resume negotiations.”
Confusion clouded media reports about the actual number Ahmadinejad cited.
One Iranian news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying Iran had 6,000 centrifuges working, before taking the report off its website.
In theory, 6,000 centrifuges running continuously can produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one bomb in six months. But Iran repeatedly has asserted that it is not trying to build a nuclear weapon.
