WASHINGTON, April 12 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United Nations should take "strong steps" on Iran's nuclear program.
One day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced his nation had achieved a breakthrough on nuclear enrichment, Rice said at the State Department in Washington the development will further isolate Iran and called on the U.N. Security Council to take up the matter, The New York Times reported.
"It will be time when it reconvenes on this case for strong steps to make certain that we maintain the credibility of the international community on this issue," said Rice. "We are consulting now, and when the Security Council reconvenes, I think it will be a good time for action. We can't let this continue."
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Wednesday joined the condemnation of Iran's uranium breakthrough, calling it "deeply unhelpful."
Muhammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organization, was quoted by the ISNA news agency Wednesday as telling the International Atomic Energy Agency Iran plans to install and operate 3,000 centrifuges this year, and expand that number to 54,000 in future years.
