Iran has said it has taken further steps to develop its nuclear programme, stirring concern within the international community.
The country has installed a second centrifuge cascade for uranium enrichment, an Iranian student news agency, Isna, has reported.Iranian scientists now intend to start injecting uranium gas into it within days, the report explains.
The UN Security Council had previously set a deadline at the end of August for Iran to stop enriching uranium, with the further threat of sanctions if it did not comply with this request.
However, Iran has rejected Western criticism of its nuclear programme and has continued to state that it is simply enriching uranium for electricity generation.
Although Iran's enrichment activity is still at a relatively modest stage, the latest development will be seen as an intentional act of defiance towards the US and its allies.
Iran first produced a small quantity of enriched uranium in February, but it has now doubled its capacity by installing a second cascade two weeks ago.
Iran had said earlier that it planned to install three thousand centrifuges by the end of this year. However, experts say that to produce industrial-scale nuclear fuel, tens of thousands of centrifuges would be needed.
The latest nuclear threat comes just weeks after North Korea's nuclear test. The UN Security Council decided to impose sanctions on the Asian country for that action, and it is believed that Iran's new move will further increase pressure on the Council to take similar action against Iran before the nuclear programme becomes more advanced.
