Iran has begun to make nuclear fuel in its underground uranium enrichment plant, in an apparent heightening of its defiance of the United Nations, according to a confidential letter from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the Iranian ambassador to the world body.

The move flew in the face of UN Security Council resolutions demanding that Iran stop enriching uranium, over fears that its professed civilian nuclear fuel programme is a cover for mastering the means to build atomic bombs.

Iran announced on April 9 that it had begun enrichment at its Natanz complex. The IAEA document said that its inspectors conducted a “design information verification” at the plant on Sunday and Monday and were informed that eight cascades, totalling 1,312 centrifuges, were running and “some” uranium was being fed into them. (Reuters)

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