Iran ? The head of Iran’s nuclear effort said Sunday that the Islamic republic’s nuclear program was moving ahead as scheduled and reiterated that Tehran would not suspend uranium enrichment, the country’s official news agency IRNA reported.

The comments by Reza Aqazadeh, vice president and head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, came just days before the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to submit its latest report on Iran’s nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council early this week.

“I confirm that our technical efforts are going ahead appropriately,” IRNA quoted Aqazadeh as saying. “Improving nuclear technology and the installation and operation of 50,000 centrifuges are our aim.”

Iran announced in April that it had begun to operate 3,000 centrifuges, 10 times the previously announced number. Later in April, The Associated Press learned Iran was using 1,300 centrifuges at Natanz to enrich uranium.