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Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

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TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President MahmoudAhmadinejad said on Monday that his country wants to have 100,000centrifuges for enriching uranium, the Iranian Students NewsAgency (ISNA) reported.

"We intend to have 100,000 centrifuges and, God willing, Iranwill be able to meet its needs in nuclear fuel by next year,"Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

The Iranian president said last week that Iran intended tolaunch 60,000 centrifuges in its nuclear program.Iran has so far built two cascades of 164 centrifuges each foruranium enrichment, which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, inmuch higher grades, the core of an atom bomb.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseiniconfirmed earlier this month Iran's plan to install 3,000centrifuges for uranium enrichment by March 2007.

Asked whether Tehran would execute its plan to install 3,000 centrifuges by the end of the current Iranian year, which will endon March 20, 2007, the spokesman answered that "Iranian officialsand experts are still seeking to carry out this (plan)."

The United States has been seeking to impose sanctions on Iranthrough the UN Security Council on the grounds that Tehran isdeveloping a nuclear-weapon program under the guise of a civilian-use program.

However, Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is forpeaceful purposes and voiced hope for talks on the nuclearstandoff. But the Islamic Republic rejected a prerequisite ofsuspending nuclear work for such talks. Enditem

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