Iran said on Friday that it had fed gas into a second cascade of centrifuges at a uranium enrichment facility, the Iranian Student's News Agency (ISNA) reported.

 

Gas was injected into the cascade of centrifuges last week after it was set up two weeks ago, an unidentified official source was quoted as saying.

 

"We have obtained the product of the second cascade," the source added.

 

The Iran official also said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been informed that Tehran was injecting gas into new centrifuges, and that nuclear inspectors had been in Iran.

 

The second cascade of centrifuges doubles Iran's uranium enrichment capability from the previous cascade of 164 centrifuges, according to ISNA.

 

On Wednesday, ISNA reported that Iranian technicians had installed a second line, or cascade of 164 centrifuges, and were due to inject gas into it later in the week.

 

On Monday, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in Washington's Georgetown University that Iran has taken another step in its ability to enrich uranium.

 

Iranian technicians had pieced together a second line, or cascade of 164 centrifuges, and were days away from using the cascade to enrich uranium, he said, adding that "it is in place and ready to go."

 

The new cascade is considered a political move by Iranian officials who are hoping to send a defiant message to the UN Security Council, as it weighs possible sanctions against the country, said the Washington Post.

 

The United States has been seeking to impose sanctions on Iran through the Security Council on the grounds that Tehran is developing a nuclear-weapons program under the garb of a civilian-use program.

 

However, Iran has said that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, while voicing hope for talks with Europe, Russia, China and the United States and vowing not to suspend nuclear work as prerequisite for such talks.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2006)