IRAN MAKING 'NUKE BOMB' FUEL

    Iran has begun producing nuclear fuel in its underground uranium-enrichment plant, according to a confidential document from the U.N. atomic watchdog.

    The document, obtained yesterday by news services, said Tehran had started up 1,312 centrifuge machines, divided into eight cascades, or networks, in the Natanz complex, in an accelerating campaign to lay a basis for "industrial scale" enrichment.

    Both moves flew in the face of U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government stop enriching uranium over fears that its professed civilian nuclear-power program is a cover for mastering the means to build atomic bombs.

    Tehran says it seeks only nuclear-generated electricity. But its past concealment of sensitive enrichment research from the International Atomic Energy Agency and continued stonewalling of IAEA inquiries have shaken confidence in its intentions.