Iran to Use 100,000 Centrifuges in Nuclear Program (Update1)

By Ladane Nasseri

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Iran plans to use 100,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium as part of its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today.

Iran ``aims to have 100,000 centrifuges,'' the state-run Iranian Students News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. ``God willing, Iran will meet its nuclear fuel needs by next year.''

Ahmadinejad announced last week that Iran was planning to install up to 60,000 centrifuges, Agence France-Presse reported. The devices produce concentrated uranium, which can be used in nuclear reactors or weapons.

The U.S. suspects that the Iranian drive to produce enriched uranium is a precursor to building a bomb, in contravention of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory. Iran says the fuel is needed to generate electricity. The United Nations Security Council in July ordered Iran to stop enrichment, a request ignored by the oil-rich country.

Ahmadinejad, speaking during a visit to the Tehran offices of state-run television, dismissed reports of possible Israeli strikes against Iran as ``media warfare,'' ISNA reported.

``The Israeli regime will presently not attack Iran because it faces many problems'' and is currently ``weak,'' said Ahmadinejad, pronounced ah-ma-deen-ah-ZHAD.

The Iranian president has called for Israel's destruction and expressed doubts about the scope of the World War II Holocaust.

Bloomberg.com