"At this point, more than 5,000 centrifuges are operating in Natanz and enriching uranium," said Aghazadeh, who is head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. He spoke to reporters during an exhibition of Iranian nuclear achievements at Tehran University.
Flaunting Iran's defiance of international demands, Aghazadeh said the Islamic Republic will never suspend enrichment.
"Suspension has not been defined in our lexicon," he said.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a report last month that Iran was installing, or preparing to install, thousands more of the machines that spin uranium gas to enrich it — with the target of 9,000 centrifuges by next year.
IAEA officials could not be immediately reached for a comment Wednesday, but Iran has previously said it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that will ultimately involve 54,000 centrifuges.
I suspect the IAEA considers it their job to run interference for Iran until the mullahs have their nuclear weapons.
While world opinion and the opinion of over loyal opposition prevented President Bush from taking action to stop Iran, I suspect that he has given President-elect Obama the tools he will need when only the willfully blind will refuse to see that the Iranians are busy adding "The Second Holocaust of 2010" to Wikipedia. That concept is in their lexicon.
