Iran: New centrifuges 'six times' faster

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TEHRAN, April 9 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled "third-generation" centrifuges Friday that officials said enrich uranium far faster than previous technology.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Friday the centrifuges "will have a gas-separation power of nearly 10, which is six times more than the first generation of centrifuges," the BBC reported Friday.

"The machines have successfully passed mechanical tests," Salehi said alongside Ahmadinejad at the ceremony Friday in Tehran.

The ceremony came as the U.N. Security Council has been discussing a fresh round of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to end its uranium enrichment activities. Iranian officials have long insisted their nuclear program is for strictly peaceful purposes.