Iran has installed two cascades of 164 centrifuges each in its underground nuclear plant, European diplomats said today.
The cascades were to be test-run shortly, without uranium inside, and fuel material would then be added if the tests were successful, the diplomats said.
The 328 centrifuges would be the vanguard of 3,000 planned for installation in the coming months.
Iran recently finished installing piping, electrical cables and other equipment needed to begin so-called "industrial-scale" enrichment in the vast subterranean complex, which is fortified and ringed by anti-aircraft guns in the central Iranian desert.
Firing up the cascades would dramatically sharpen Iran's confrontation with Western powers that pushed through limited UN sanctions on Tehran six weeks ago to try to curb what they suspect is a disguised effort to assemble atomic bombs.
The Islamic Republic, the world's number four oil producer, says it wants solely civilian atomic energy from uranium enrichment.
Diplomats said the installation of the first two cascades was likely to be the gist of Iran's planned announcement of "significant" nuclear progress on February 11th, when it caps anniversary celebrations of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.