Iran makes progress in enrichment: IAEA

Vienna: Iran is making substantial advances in uranium enrichment in defiance of world demands, UN monitors said on Wednesday, and is likely to ignore another 60-day deadline for it to freeze enrichment.

The findings in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came on the day nine US warships sailed into the Gulf for manoeuvres to display American impatience with Tehran, which it also accuses of backing insurgents in Iraq.

Iran ignored another 60-day deadline for it to freeze enrichment set by the UN Security Council when it imposed a second set of sanctions on March 24, and was still blocking IAEA inquiries into the full scope of its programme, the report said.

Iran had installed 1,640 centrifuges to enrich uranium and was injecting uranium "UF6" gas into some 1,300 of them running simultaneously, it said. This marked significant progress towards a basis for a nuclear fuel industry after the shift from a research-level programme a few months ago.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did not comment directly on the IAEA report, but said Iran appeared to be doing everything it could to isolate itself, pointing to two UN sanctions resolutions already passed against Tehran.

US officials had said the powers would start drafting a third, harsher batch of sanctions if the deadline was flouted.

Washington sent nine US warships into the Gulf, a narrow channel in international waters off Iran's coast and a crucial artery for global oil shipments. Oil rose towards $70 on world markets, partly on news of the force's arrival.