Now we have more than 7,000 centrifuges and the West dare not threaten us, said Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad has made Iran’s expanding nuclear program one of the centerpieces of his campaign for the June 12, 2009 elections and has struck an increasingly harsh tone against US and other countries calling for Iran to stop uranium enrichment.
According to Iran leaders, they will never give up nuclear technology and insist they seek only energy-producing reactors.
There is wide consensus among Iranian voters on the country’s rights for a nuclear program. But Ahmadinejad’s three challengers, a fellow hard-liner and two moderates, have questioned against the West and their offers of economic incentives in exchange for stopping uranium enrichment.
Earlier in 2009, Iran said it was utilizing an upgraded centrifuge that produces enriched uranium at about double the rate of its original systems.
Currently, Iran is only capable of slowly producing enriched uranium for reactors. But According to Iranian officials, their long-term goal is for more than 50,000 centrifuges, which would give the capacity to produce high-grade nuclear material in a start-to-finish cycle of just weeks.
