Ali Akbar Salehi on Thursday gave no indication to Iranian media when production of the new centrifuges would take place, nor were specific details about their capacity mentioned.

According to Salehi, Iran currently possesses 19,000 centrifuges, 1,000 more than his predecessor said the country had in August.

IRNA news agency quoted Salehi saying on Thursday that Iran is proud to be among the few countries “that are capable of conducting the full fuel cycle of the nuclear fuel production from discovery to mining and from there to turning uranium to nuclear fuel.”

Earlier in December, an AEOI spokesperson said Iran provided the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) information about the new line of centrifuges, which PressTV quoted him saying “has a higher capacity” than previous generations of equipment used in the country’s nuclear program.

Thursday’s announcement came following a push by a significant number of Iranian lawmakers to legislate the enrichment of uranium to 60 percent purity if the last month deal between Iran and P5+1 world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program fails, the Western sanctions are tightened and Iran’s nuclear rights are ignored.

According to the semi-official Fars News Agency, 100 of the 290 members of Iran’s parliament signed a draft law calling on President Hassan Rouhani to approve enrichment of uranium to 60 percent, saying it was necessary for fueling nuclear submarines and “other facilities in case the western anti-Iran sanctions are intensified.”

BA/BA