Iran ‘resuming uranium tests’

is defying international concerns and resuming clandestine work linked to uranium enrichment, testing equipment and producing a gas that can be used to make nuclear warheads, diplomats say.

The diplomats said Tehran had restarted equipment used to make uranium hexaflouride, which - when injected into centrifuges and spun - could be enriched to levels high enough to make such weapons.

While Iran only appears to be testing the machinery, it apparently has produced some of the hexaflouride gas as a side effect, the diplomats told The Associated Press. They did not know how much gas was made and when the testing was resumed.