Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks during an annual rally commemorating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which toppled the late pro-U.S. Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. In his statements to the rally, Ahmadinejad said he is ready to have direct talks with United States if the West stops pressuring his country. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks during an annual rally commemorating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which toppled the late pro-U.S. Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. In his statements to the rally, Ahmadinejad said he is ready to have direct talks with United States if the West stops pressuring his country. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
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Herman Nackaerts, center, of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards, speaks to the press before his flight to Iran at Vienna's Schwechat airport, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. The U.N. team is embarking on a new try to restart its probe into suspicions that Iran secretly worked on nuclear arms. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
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FILE -- In this Tuesday, July 24, 2012 file photo released by an official website of the Iranian supreme leader's office, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech, in Tehran, Iran. A religious decree issued by Iran's supreme leader banning nuclear weapons is binding for the Iranian government, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, suggesting that the edict should end the debate over whether Tehran is pursuing atomic arms. Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the West must understand the significance of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's edict for Iran, saying "there is nothing higher than the exalted supreme leader's fatwa to define the framework for our activities in the nuclear field." (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader, File)
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Herman Nackaerts, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, waves as he arrives from Iran at Vienna's Schwechat airport, Austria, on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Nackaerts says his team made headway during talks in Tehran meant to restart an investigation of suspicions the Islamic Republic may have secretly worked on a nuclear arms program. He says that means the U.N. nuclear agency expects to resume its probe early next year. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
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Herman Nackaerts, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, talks to media after his arrival from Iran at Vienna's Schwechat airport, Austria, on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Nackaerts says his team made headway during talks in Tehran meant to restart an investigation of suspicions the Islamic Republic may have secretly worked on a nuclear arms program. He says that means the U.N. nuclear agency expects to resume its probe early next year. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
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Herman Nackaerts, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, arrives from Iran at Vienna's Schwechat airport, Austria, on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Nackaerts says his team made headway during talks in Tehran meant to restart an investigation of suspicions the Islamic Republic may have secretly worked on a nuclear arms program. He says that means the U.N. nuclear agency expects to resume its probe early next year. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
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In this image released by ISIS, commercial satellite imagery from December 9, 2012 showing ongoing construction, a new security perimeter, and new roofing on the two major buildings at the site. International officials engaged in a two-pronged effort Wednesday Dec. 12 2012 to engage Iran over concerns the country may have worked on nuclear weapons, with a U.N. team seeking access to a site linked to such suspected activity and European Union negotiators looking to restart talks with Tehran meant to ease such fears. Emailing a series of commercial satellite photographs to The Associated Press Wednesday, the Institute for Science and International Security said the images showed “a steady pace of what appears to be the “reconstruction” phase of the site which between April and July 2012 had undergone considerable alterations. (AP Photo / ISIS)
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In this image released by ISIS, imagery from November 7, 2012 showing blue roofing covering the two major buildings. An unidentifiable section attached to the front of the suspected chamber building is visible. Rows of earth piles have been collected most likely to be used in paving and construction at the site grounds. International officials engaged in a two-pronged effort Wednesday Dec. 12 2012 to engage Iran over concerns the country may have worked on nuclear weapons, with a U.N. team seeking access to a site linked to such suspected activity and European Union negotiators looking to restart talks with Tehran meant to ease such fears. Emailing a series of commercial satellite photographs to The Associated Press Wednesday, the Institute for Science and International Security said the images showed “a steady pace of what appears to be the “reconstruction” phase of the site which between April and July 2012 had undergone considerable alterations. (AP Photo / ISIS)
Iran: Advanced enrichment centrifuges installed
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Wednesday that it has begun installing a new generation of centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment facility, a move that will allow it to vastly increase its pace of uranium enrichment in defiance of U.N. calls to halt such activities.
Vice President Fereidoun Abbasi told the official IRNA news agency that the machines will only produce low-level enriched uranium, which is used to make nuclear fuel, but high-level enrichment makes it suitable for use in the core of a nuclear weapon.
Abbasi said Iranian nuclear scientists began installing the advanced centrifuges at Natanz about a month ago.
"We've produced enough of these machines and are installing and starting them up gradually," Abbasi said.
The announcement coincided with a new round of talks Wednesday with senior International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors over allegations that Tehran might have carried out tests on triggers for atomic weapons. State media said the talks ended late Wednesday but didn't provide any further details. It also could affect negotiations planned later this month between Iran and six world powers.
Iran has more than 10,000 centrifuges that are enriching uranium at Natanz, 225 kilometers (140 miles) southeast of Tehran. But the machines are of the old IR-1 type. Iran told the IAEA last month that it intended to install newer IR-2 centrifuges, machines that can produce more enriched uranium at a shorter period of time.
"The centrifuges installed at Natanz are first-generation machines based on old technology," the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Abbasi as saying. "We were able to produce composite materials. ... We built centrifuge rotors from those materials which make the machines more durable. The new generation of centrifuges is more efficient."
Abbasi said Iran would use the new machines to produce 5 percent level enriched uranium.
The visit by the U.N. team, led by Herman Nackaerts, comes a day after Tehran raised prospects that the International Atomic Energy Agency could be allowed to inspect Parchin, a military site where the agency suspects nuclear-related experiments were conducted.
But Abbasi said no such visit was on the negotiating table.
"Parchin is not a nuclear site. We've said this repeatedly. There is no word about visiting Parchin or any other site," he said.
Iran says the agency's suspicions are based on forged intelligence provided by the CIA, the Israeli Mossad, Britain's MI-6 and other intelligence agencies.
"Removing ambiguities requires evidence. If the agency has any documents related to ambiguities about Parchin, it is necessary that they give it to us," IRNA quoted Abbasi as saying.
Iranian officials say they have bitter memories of permitting IAEA inspections at Parchin in the past, and replying to a long list of queries over its nuclear program. Tehran says any new agency investigation must be governed by an agreement that lays out the scope of such a probe.
Iran says it cannot allow its security to be compromised by allowing the IAEA access to non-nuclear facilities on the basis of suspicions raised by foreign intelligence agencies that Tehran considers enemies. Abbasi also criticized the IAEA for leaking information on Iran's nuclear program.
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