By Karin Strohecker
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran's chief negotiator met the top U.N. nuclear monitor on Friday ahead of talks with the EU in what could be a last chance to defuse a standoff over Tehran's atomic ambitions and head off tougher U.N. sanctions.
Ali Larijani was received by International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohammed ElBaradei in Vienna amid IAEA concern about increasing Iranian restrictions on access for agency inspectors imposed in retaliation for existing sanctions.
Larijani goes on to Portugal's capital Lisbon on Saturday for talks with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who has been exploring a face-saving way for Iran to stop enriching uranium, a move repeatedly ruled out by Tehran.
A senior Iranian official, in remarks that might have worried Western powers fearing Tehran is seeking to build atom bombs, was quoted as saying it now had 3,000 centrifuge machines running -- a basis for "industrial" production of nuclear fuel.
But the government then denied he said such a thing to ISNA news agency, as well as a statement by him that Iran had stockpiled 100 kg (220 pounds) of enriched uranium material.
"(Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi) did not say anything about the amount of enriched uranium (or) the numbers of installed centrifuges ... Therefore recent reports citing him are denied," the public relations office of the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official news agency
IRNA.
Iran had about 2,000 centrifuges installed as of early June, most of them enriching uranium and others undergoing test "dry runs" without uranium in them, but is likely to reach the 3,000 threshold by end of July, diplomats have said.
Three-thousand could produce material for one bomb within a year if run nonstop at supersonic speed. But Iran has yet to demonstrate such prowess and probably remains a few years away from being able to build a bomb if it wanted one, analysts say.
DEFIANCE
Iran has refused U.N. demands to halt enrichment, a process that yields fuel for nuclear power plants but can also provide material for weapons if the uranium is refined to a much higher degree. Tehran says its goal is purely peaceful electricity.
Ali Larijani was received by International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohammed ElBaradei in Vienna amid IAEA concern about increasing Iranian restrictions on access for agency inspectors imposed in retaliation for existing sanctions.
Larijani goes on to Portugal's capital Lisbon on Saturday for talks with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who has been exploring a face-saving way for Iran to stop enriching uranium, a move repeatedly ruled out by Tehran.
A senior Iranian official, in remarks that might have worried Western powers fearing Tehran is seeking to build atom bombs, was quoted as saying it now had 3,000 centrifuge machines running -- a basis for "industrial" production of nuclear fuel.
But the government then denied he said such a thing to ISNA news agency, as well as a statement by him that Iran had stockpiled 100 kg (220 pounds) of enriched uranium material.
"(Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi) did not say anything about the amount of enriched uranium (or) the numbers of installed centrifuges ... Therefore recent reports citing him are denied," the public relations office of the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official news agency
IRNA.
Iran had about 2,000 centrifuges installed as of early June, most of them enriching uranium and others undergoing test "dry runs" without uranium in them, but is likely to reach the 3,000 threshold by end of July, diplomats have said.
Three-thousand could produce material for one bomb within a year if run nonstop at supersonic speed. But Iran has yet to demonstrate such prowess and probably remains a few years away from being able to build a bomb if it wanted one, analysts say.
DEFIANCE
Iran has refused U.N. demands to halt enrichment, a process that yields fuel for nuclear power plants but can also provide material for weapons if the uranium is refined to a much higher degree. Tehran says its goal is purely peaceful electricity.
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