Iran progress in uranium enrichment slow, ElBaradei says

April 17, 2008
Forbes.com
Original Source: http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/04/17/afx4901883.html
BERLIN (Thomson Financial) - Progress by Iran in building more centrifuges to enrich uranium in defiance of international demands is 'not very fast,' the head of the UN atomic watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei said on Thursday.
'The rate of progress so far has not been very fast' at Iran's Natanz plant, ElBaradei said after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.
'I think they had in the past 3,000 centrifuges and I think now they have like 3,300 or 3,400. They are not moving very much.'
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on April 8 that the country had started work on installing 6,000 new centrifuges at Natanz and last week Iran's official IRNA news agency said it was now operating 492 new ones.
The United States warned last week that Tehran risked further isolation and new international sanctions for its continued refusal to comply with UN resolutions.
'I continue to call on Iran not to speed up the process because we need first to have an agreement with the international community about building confidence before Iran moves with its enrichment programme,' ElBaradei said in Berlin.
Western governments believe Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, but Tehran insists its programme is peaceful and aimed at generating energy. Enriched uranium can be used for both purposes.