Iran expands nuclear ambition - FT.com Iran has tripled its estimated uranium reserves and is to build 16 new nuclear reactors, the Islamic regime announced ahead of talks on its nuclear programme this week with six major powers in Kazakhstan. The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran announced in a statement at the weekend that the new power plants would be built around the country, including on the Caspian Sea in the north, and the Gulf and Sea of Oman in the south. The southern province of Khuzestan and an unnamed province in the country's northwest were also among the new locations. The organisation, which is the country's top authority on technical issues for the nuclear industry, said new uranium discoveries over the past year and a half had almost tripled the country's estimated reserves of uranium from 1,527 tons to 4,400 tons. The announcement is widely seen by Iranian analysts as an attempt by the Islamic regime to increase its bargaining power as it prepares to meet with representatives of six powers - US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany - in Almaty on Tuesday in an effort to find a diplomatic breakthrough in the nuclear impasse after an eight-month lapse in the multilateral talks. Iranian analysts and western diplomats are not hopeful that the meeting will yield any tangible results. Speaking at a gathering of nuclear officials in Tehran on Saturday, Saeed Jalili, Iran's top security official and nuclear negotiator, urged the six powers to present a "new" and "credible strategy" which "lacks the previous mistakes." Mr Jalili gave no details of what Iran would be seeking from the talks but western diplomats in Tehran say the regime has made it clear that the operation of the Fordow underground enrichment facility, the continued enrichment of uranium at around 5 per cent concentration, and the export of its stockpiles of medium-enriched uranium were non-negotiable. Iran, however, has indicated that it could suspend its 20 per cent enrichment of uranium - closer to weapons grade - in exchange for the gradual withdrawal of sanctions, a compromise dismissed as insufficient by western powers. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian energy and medical research, and has repeatedly said that pursuing nuclear weapons - as suspected by the international community - is against its religious beliefs. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported last week that Iran was installing more advanced centrifuge machines, adding that it could not conclude that all material in Iran was intended for peaceful purposes. The new machines - called the IR-2M - can enrich uranium several times faster than the current model. Iran has indicated that it wants to install about 3,000 machines to produce low-enriched uranium at a concentration of 5 per cent at Natanz. Frereydoon Abbasi-Davani, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said at the same annual nuclear gathering over the weekend that Iran had installed 180IR-2M centrifuge machines at Natanz. "The centrifuges number more than 180 and will be gradually installed," he said, adding that the exact number would be announced "soon." More than 250 Iranian parliamentarians on Sunday released a statement urging Russia and China "not to follow the US's illogical demands" in the forthcoming nuclear talks, and called on the US and its "western allies" to "accept the nuclear realities" because Iran's "nuclear train [progress] within peaceful goals will never stop."