Iran has begun installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday, a move Western nations condemned as defiance of UN which demands Iran to halt enrichment. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called the move “dangerous” and said UN sanctions against Iran should be increased. “If that continues we must reinforce sanctions, but we also must continue dialogue,” Kouchner told a news conference in Paris. “I fear that we will have to continue on the road toward sanctions if we do not encounter responses from the Iranians.” Iran already has about 3,000 centrifuges operating at its underground nuclear facility in Natanz, and the UN has passed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or the material for a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists its nuclear program is focused on the peaceful production of energy, not the development of weapons as claimed by the US and many of its allies. Gregory Schulte, the US representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tuesday's announcement by Iran “reflects the Iranian leadership's continuing violation of international obligations and refusal to address international concerns.” “This approach has not brought Iran international respect or accolade but rather increasing censure and sanction,” added Schulte in a written statement. “Negotiation, not escalation, provides the best path to international respect and regional security.” Britain's Foreign Office said Iran has “chosen to ignore the will of the international community,” accusing Tehran of “making no effort to restore international confidence in its intentions.” Ahmadinejad made Tuesday's announcement as he toured the Natanz facility in central Iran. “The president announced the start of the phase of installing 6,000 new centrifuges in Natanz,” state television reported. The television also quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that “we have reached new achievements” in Natanz that he would announce later Tuesday. The president's trip was scheduled to coincide with Iran's National Day of Nuclear Technology, marking the second anniversary of when Iran first enriched uranium on April 8, 2006. On that day “Iran stepped into a path that will put the country in a more deserving position in the world,” the television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. Ahmadinejad is widely expected to confirm for the first time Tuesday that Iran has installed hundreds of more sophisticated centrifuges that can enrich uranium faster. __
