Iran begins uranium enrichment in second centrifuge cascade

Iran has expanded its controversial nuclear programme by injecting gas into a second network of centrifuges to enrich uranium, a semi-official news agency reported today.

The news came as world powers worked on a draft resolution in the UN Security Council that would impose limited sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to cease enrichment - a process that can produce material for nuclear power reactors, or weapons.

The Iranian Students News Agency quoted an anonymous official as saying that Iran has begun injecting gas into a second cascade of centrifuges and had obtained successful enrichment results.

“We are injecting gas into the second cascade, which we installed two weeks ago,” the anonymous official was quoted by ISNA as saying.

“We have already exploited the product of the second cascade,” said the official, implying that engineers had succeeded in the enrichment process.

Iranian authorities are believed to leak information to ISNA which they want published but consider too sensitive for the official media.