(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-07 19:08

TEHRAN -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that his country has already installed 3,000 centrifuges for the uranium enrichment work, in defiance of a key UN demand of suspending it.

In this Oct 30 photo, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad points before his meeting with Russian's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Tehran. Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that his country has already installed 3,000 centrifuges for the uranium enrichment work. [Agencies]

"Iran now has 3,000 centrifuges," Ahmadinejad addressed a large crowd in Iran's northeastern city of Birjand.

This is the second time in two months that Ahmadinejad declared the current number of Iran's centrifuges in use.

On September 2, he told some university students that Iran had already been a nuclear country and had 3,000 machines in circulation.

Defying the UN sanctions resolutions against Tehran's nuclear program, the president told the rally that "Iran will not believe these resolutions, they are based on false report."

"They must know that Iranians don't care about the sanctions, and Iranian people will not back one inch from their nuclear rights," he added.

The UN Security Council has imposed two sanctions resolutions against Tehran's nuclear program since last December, demanding a halt of the uranium enrichment work. However, Iran's senior officials have repeatedly denied the request.

The US and Western countries have accused Iran of developing atomic weapons under a civilian cover, but Tehran said it only wants to generate electricity.

The White House has never ruled out the possibility of a military attack against Tehran's nuclear facilities, and warned Iran's nuclear program could lead to a "third world war."

In late October, Washington imposed new sanctions against the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, drawing condemnation from Iran's senior military commanders who vowed to fight back any aggression.