Iran installs centrifuges in uranium enrichment facility

Tehran: Iran has begun installing 6,000 advanced centrifuges in an underground uranium enrichment facility, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday.

A report on state media said: "President Ahmadinejad has announced the start of the installation of 6,000 new centrifuges at Natanz.''

This latest move is the newest snub to the UN Security Council which has actively been trying to halt Iran's enrichment work.

Last week diplomats in Vienna also hinted that Tehran was installing advanced enrichment centrifuges at Natanz in central Iran.

Iran claims the sanctions imposed by the UN are unlawful and stresses that its nuclear programme is not for developing weapons and has so far rejected all suggestions to halt nuclear work in return for trace and other incentives.