Jun 5, 2009, 16:28 GMT
Vienna - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not made any headway on solving outstanding issues on Iran's nuclear programme while the country keeps making progress at its uranium enrichment centre, according to an IAEA report released Friday.
In his latest report issued to IAEA member states, Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that as of May 31, Iran had 4,920 uranium enrichment centrifuges running, up from 3,936 such machines operating in February.
So far, the enrichment plant in Natanz has produced 1,339 kilogrammes of low-enriched uranium, 33 per cent more compared with the figure given in the last IAEA report in February.
Commenting on this increase, a senior official close to the IAEA said that 'most of it can be attributed to the number of additional machines.'
The United Nations Security Council has passed a series of sanctions against Tehran in order to pressure the country to halt the enrichment facility which could theoretically be used to produce material for nuclear weapons.
An additional 2,301 centrifuges have been installed but are not yet in operation.
The Vienna-based agency has not made any progress in the past months on clarifying indications that Iran was conducting nuclear weapons-related research projects in the past.
'Certainly we would like to get moving' on this issue, the official said, as the nuclear watchdog has been working on the Iranian nuclear file for six years.
The report came one day after US President Barack Obama warned of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East while once again offering to enter into a bilateral dialogue with Iran.
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