Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced machines in a possible indication that it aims to speed up uranium enrichment _ a process that can produce both fuel for power plants and the fissile core of nuclear warheads, diplomats have told the Associated Press in Vienna, Austria on April 4.
One of the diplomats said more than 300 of the centrifuges have been linked up in two separate units in Iran’s underground enrichment plant in the town of Natanz and a third was being assembled. He said the machines appeared to be more advanced than the thousands already set up and running underground.
In any case, the development reflected Iran’s determination to push ahead with its enrichment program despite three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions, the most recent imposed last month. One of the diplomats said officials in Tehran would likely detail the new centrifuge work on April 8, a date Iran has designated National Nuclear Technology Day.
