A report by the UN's nuclear watchdog says Iran has ignored a UN Security Council call to suspend all nuclear fuel enrichment by yesterday's deadline and has accelerated the program, diplomats said.
They said the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said Iran had done little during a 30-day grace period to answer questions meant to determine whether its nuclear activity is solely for civilian purposes.
The report was being sent to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions against Iran. Tehran has said its enrichment policy is irreversible and it could withstand any consequences, whether financial penalties or military attack.
"Iran was supposed to suspend, but since they continue to do experiments, they have not suspended enrichment efforts. The information available to us shows they have not heeded the request for compliance so far," said a senior official close to the IAEA.
The report said inspector tests confirmed Iran's claim this month to have enriched uranium with a cascade of 164 centrifuges to the low level needed for fueling nuclear power plants. It must be purified to a much higher level to set off the chain reaction required for a bomb.
Iran was also building two new cascades of 164 centrifuges at its underground enrichment plant. IAEA inspectors were monitoring the construction.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier poured fresh scorn on the UN and boasted Iran could soon become a "superpower," official media said yesterday.
"Iran does not give a damn about such resolutions," the firebrand president said in a speech on Thursday in the northern province of Zanjan.
"The bullies of the world should know that nuclear energy is a national demand, and thank God our nation is a nuclear nation today," the official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
"The Iranian nation's achievement of peaceful nuclear energy is so important that it could change the world equation," Ahmadinejad told one of several rallies in the province.
"The Islamic republic of Iran has the capacity to quickly become a world superpower," he said. "If we believe in ourselves ... no other power can be compared to us."
"We do not need weapons or military expeditions, because our position in the world is rising and Iran's words have now influenced all the world's equations," the firebrand leader asserted.
The ISNA news agency said he promised Iran would "soon have more good news."
The last time Ahmadinejad promised "good news" was earlier this month. He said scientists had enriched uranium to make reactor fuel, and declared Iran had "joined the nuclear club."
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