Ahmadinejad says Iran now has 5,000-to-6,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment

AFP via translation | July 26, 2008

[HAL9000]

via translation -

ALERT - Nuclear: Iran has 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges

TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that Iran had 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment activities, confirming that the Islamic Republic has expanded its controversial nuclear programme, reported state radio.

[HAL9000]

Sounds like enough to be considered “weapons-scale”.

[HAL9000]

AFP - Iran has up to 6,000 enrichment centrifuges: Ahmadinejad

[Cindy]

http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html

#

Video and photo included.

stepping back in time to May, 2008...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7420737.stm

Page last updated at 20:47 GMT, Monday, 26 May 2008 21:47 UK

“Iran ‘withholds nuclear details’”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Iran has told the IAEA it plans to have 6,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges operating by the end of the summer.”

[Cindy]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/07/opinion/edzimmer.php

“IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROJECT
Nearer to the Bomb”

By Peter D. Zimmerman Published: July 7, 2008

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “But the advanced centrifuges will enable the Iranians to build about twice as many nuclear weapons a year with the current infrastructure than they otherwise could have done. If they add 6,000 machines to today’s 3,000, the bomb-building potential is more than doubled again, but the peaceful utility of the plant is zero.”

[elhombrelibre]

Soon to be nuclear-armed Iran ping.

[himno hero]

I dont think so

He is only confirming what we already know and not the known unknowns or better yet the unknown unknowns.

To me it looks like he is just bragging that we have the job done and are spinning more for back up.

Worse yet, you can’t stop me! UN? Who are they????

[Cindy]

Note: Photos included.

http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.48a37caae2b442617a93f7062cd0855e.281.html

“Iran has up to 6,000 enrichment centrifuges: Ahmadinejad”
26/07/2008 11h00

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “TEHRAN (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that Iran has boosted the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges to up to 6,000, in an expansion of its nuclear programme that defies international calls for a freeze.

“Today they (the West) have agreed that the existing 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges do not increase and that there is no problem if this number of centrifuges work,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state radio.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “But Ahmadinejad vowed on Wednesday that Iran would make no concessions in the nuclear crisis and that further sanctions would not force it to back down.”

[Cindy]

PHOTOS:

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=+site:www.globalsecurity.org+Natanz

[Cindy]

PROPAGANDA On The Internet:

irib.ir

english.irib.ir

english.irib.ir/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=17

[Cindy]

JPOST.com - THE JERUSALEM POST - Topic: “The Iranian Threat”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/Page/IndexParMult&cid=1145961369337

[Cindy]

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaIran/index.shtml

“In Focus : IAEA and Iran”

[alexander_busek]

Ahmadinejad says Iran now has 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment

Would it have been too much to ask that he also supply us with the bombing co-ordinates of those centrifuges?

[Cindy]

Resource Link:

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iran/nuke/index.html

[Cindy]

RECAP:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50511

“Iranian Threat Justifies Missile Defense, General Says”

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 15, 2008

[Cindy]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,391529,00.html

“Report: Ahmadinejad Says Iran Has 6,000 Centrifuges”
Saturday, July 26, 2008

TEHRAN, Iran —

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Iran says it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that ultimately will involve 54,000 centrifuges.”

[tobyhill]

This means that Obama’s trip to the Middle-East was a failure after such high expectations by the MSM.
I guess this Messiah has his limitations.

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

The euroweenies are sure doing a great job handling the Iranians arn’t they? This is what happens when you put socialist bedwetters in charge of a international crisis.

[DocRock]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040522/news_1n22uranium.html

Excerpt near bottom of article concerning 500 tons of Uranium U.S. found in Iraq:

"Of the uranium, 500 tons is naturally occurring ore or yellowcake, a slightly processed concentrate that cannot be directly used in a bomb. Some 1.8 tons is classified as low-enriched uranium, a more potent form but still not sufficient for a weapon.

Thomas B. Cochran, director of the nuclear program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the low-enriched version could be useful to a nation with nuclear ambitions.

"A country like Iran," Cochran said, "could convert that into weapons-grade material with a lot fewer centrifuges than would be required with natural uranium."

[Chode]

[jveritas]

Then we are running out of time. We need to destroy the Iranian terrorist regime nuclear facilities before President Bush term end unless President Bush will agree with President elect McCain that the latter will finish the job in the first few month of his new administration. If Obama gets in by a fluke then President Bush should do it before the end of his term. We cannot trust a defeatist and appeaser like Obama to protect us from nuclear Iran.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2040058/posts?page=907#907

[Marine_Uncle]

The problem will not go away until we literally obliterate all their underground and above ground facilities, in any way connected to their nuclear program(s). Of course such announcements are often made to rattle the saber and make them look like they are moving ahead technologically when they may not have moved forward even a little bit. Are all these additional units literally integrated into one huge series cascade system that has been proven in and can run in the automated mode twenty four hours a day to turn the UF6 gas into 87% or higher U235.
We don't really know.
It may sound like a silly comparison but take an example from the folks at IBM in the mid eighties when they made claims that they where the first to manufacture commercial 16K RAMS. Well my brother at Bell Labs took some apart to find they really just wired four 4K RAMS together. So what, at first glance. But there where big differences. Their 4KRAM chips did not contain the much smaller channel length MOS transistors ours did, along with the newer wafer fabrication techniques required to make the smaller and faster transistors. Likewise.
One could question if the Iranian engineers have literally created the huge centrifugal system that is implied. For all we know they may still be having problems getting a few hundred units to run trouble free for extended periods of time.
We should remember the old rather inefficient P1 type gas centrifuges they got from Pakistan are just that. And it is not just the said units, but the whole system of vacuum and control system that must work reliably over extended periods of time to see sufficient end product extraction down the other end through repeated reintroduction of partial product at different parts of the system in a prescribed way.
Perhaps they have finally mastered this level of sophistication. As well as the methods to produce the required amounts of Uranium Hexa fluoride and store it with no contaminations, that otherwise can foul up the enrichment processing.
I sense we know how far they really are in these processes and that is what drives the idea of political/economic sanctions up to this point in time. They may be a year or more off from being able to actually construct a small atomic bomb. Earlier frantic articles that lead nowhere within the realm of certainty made it sound like they could pump out a few atomic weapons by the end of 2007 if we remember. One thing is for sure. They want to make atomic weapons just like just about every other ME country. The muslim and by default Arab world wants to achieve parity with Israel on this issue.
It is not good enough for them that the Paki already have the weapons in their arsenal.
That is my two cents for this Saturday. Perhaps only worth one cent or less.

[elhombrelibre]

I guess in my view the Iranians are probably lying, like with the missile launch. But on the other hand, we should error on the side of taking them serious and therefore destroy their ability to continue building a war machine that they've explicitly warned they'd use on Israel and we all know would be used to intimidate other nations and to assure Iran's domination of that region.

[Marine_Uncle]

They can't destroy Israel unless they could pump a few dozen atomic tipped missiles into the most key cities. With their increasing isolation they cannot send a foot or mechanized army into Israel. Even there, they would meet one hell of a surprise as their ground forces where decimated by the IAF.
The logistics are not on the side of any nation invading Israel with any success.
The Arabs want to do business with the free world. We buy their oil and gas and refined products, and have provided the required mechanisms to allow their ruling elite to invest and get rich in US held assets.
I think things continue to get somewhat distorted regarding that area of the world as just what can one country accomplish in the reality of things. The only way I can see Iran effecting the balance of regional powers is if they where so foolish to attempt to destroy the Saudi,UAE,Kuwati,Iraqi oil/gas pipelines, drilling sites, and ports of export of these products, and or somehow passing off a few future atomic weapons that could be planted in key Israeli cities.
Only the later in this partial list I believe would come to past. And of course remotely, having the nuclear devices shipped and put in place in some US cities.
A mean dog may be able to damage a foot or hand so one keeps such behind secure fences. The Mullahs don't want to go to hell any time soon, so they will restrain the nutjob most probably in time to save their own skins. They allow such to gain power in order to protect their personal interests. That being, staying behind the scenes and ruling the country as they see fit.
If they where to put the western powers in a position where no option other then destroying their key infrastructures and cities where on the table they cut their own throats. They are not dopes. They love their limos, flowing robes touching the ground as they waddle about in self adoration.
Ahmadinajah is a dispensable item. He will go when they best see fit to have it done. Can anyone really see the bulk of the Revolutionary Guard taking pleasure in rounding up the Mullahs and having them put in prison or killed off, or just fully stripped of their powers.
That would go against their obedience to the yoke of their particular form of Islam.
The only way Islam will take a back seat in Iran is if a high percentage of Iranian citizens backed by the regular military where to take to the streets and by a blood bath purge the country of the Mullahs, the current government and of course by default the secret service, and RG at large. And of course have enough strong level headed military that would have the common sense to force a temporary government into being, with the understanding that free democratically held elections etc., would follow suit. And we know where that scenario goes in these type countries.
So the cat and mouse games will continue. As long as Iran does not block the sale of oil and gas to the western world, it will remain a standoff IMHO.

[RightWhale]

They are wasting their money. They always have.