UN Nuke Chief: Iran's Program Limited

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, greets photographers in a ceremony in Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz in 300 kms 186 (miles) south of capital Tehran, Iran, Monday April, 9, 2007. Iran announced Monday that it has begun enriching uranium with 3,000 centrifuges, a dramatic expansion of a nuclear program that has drawn U.N. sanctions and condemnation from the West. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday at a ceremony at the enrichment facility at Natanz that Iran was now capable of enriching nuclear fuel "on an industrial scale." Asked if Iran has begun injecting uranium gas into 3,000 centrifuges for enrichment, top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani replied, "Yes." He did not elaborate, but it was the first confirmation that Iran had installed the larger set of centrifuges after months of saying it intends to do so. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian) (Hasan Sarbakhshian - AP)

Iran's announcement this week was a strong show of defiance to the United Nations, which has imposed sanctions on Iran for its refusal to suspend enrichment and has warned of more to come.

The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. The United Nations has focused on halting enrichment because the process can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material for a warhead.

Experts have been skeptical that Iran is anywhere near running enough centrifuges. They pointed out that Iran has had difficulty keeping its smaller arrays of 328 centrifuges operating constantly. In the enrichment process, uranium gas is injected into cascades of thousands of centrifuges, which spin and purify it.

Iran complained Wednesday that the IAEA was leaking information over its nuclear program. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organization, pointed to a mention in a report by the U.N. agency in February that Iran had transported nine tons of uranium gas to the Natanz facility.

"Enrichment is being done in various countries, but nobody is informed how much material has arrived in their enrichment facilities. This is the base of our criticism toward the agency: Why is our confidential information easily provided to the media?" Saeedi was quoted as saying in the state-run Fars newspaper.

Meanwhile, ElBaradei expressed support for a common nuclear energy program that six Arab Gulf nations are considering creating. The nuclear project is seen as an attempt by Arab nations to prevent an Iranian and Israeli monopoly on nuclear technology in the region.

Arab leaders have expressed unease with Iran's nuclear program and worry over the repercussions of a possible U.S. military action against it.

The Arab Gulf nations announced in December they have commissioned a study on setting up a joint nuclear facility. ElBaradei said the IAEA would send in experts next month to do surveys and field work for the study, which will look at the feasibility of building the facility.

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AP writer George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, contributed to this story.

(AMs. corrects time element to Thursday sted Wednesday. RAISES reference to requirement for warhead.)