Iran plans to step up nuclear program

In defiance of United Nations demands thatIran halt uranium enrichment,the country'snuclear chief said Wednesdayit would install 50,000 centrifuges in the next five years.

Centrifuges are used to enrich uranium, which is used as fuel in a reactor. Further enrichment makes it suitable for nuclear weapons.

"Currently we have 6,000 running centrifuges in Natanz and we will increase our activities to install more by [March 2010]," the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, told Reuters.

He was interviewed in southwest Iran, where a new nuclear power plant is being built. Iran has another enrichment facility in Natanz in central Iran.

"We have not changed our schedule in Natanz. We have neither slowed down nor accelerated our activities there," Aghazadeh said.

Iranian officials have maintained its nuclearprogram exists only for generating electricity. However, the United States and its allies accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear arms.