Deputy head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Javad Vaeedi said on Sunday that his country has so far produced 300 tons of uranium hexafluoride (UF6)gas used for uranium enrichment in the Isfahan nuclear facility.

Addressing a congregation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Vaeedi said "The Isfahan uranium conversion facilityis active and it has produced more than 300 tons of UF6," local Fars news agency reported.

He said that despite pressures by Western countries which once stressed that Iran should not have even 20 centrifuges, there are now 3,000 centrifuges operative in Iran.

The Iranian official also touched upon Iran's initiative - known as a modality or action plan - to build international confidence and return the country's nuclear dossier to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"We have moved on a track specified by the Agency and the Agency has approved that over 50 percent of the issues have been resolved and that the remaining issues will be resolved within the next few months," Vaeedi said.

His remarks came as the UN Security Council is deliberating whether to pass a new resolution to impose more sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

The diplomatic standoff between Iran and the West began almost six years ago over suspicions that Tehran's nuclear work is a cover for an atomic weapons program.

So far, the UN Security Council has adopted two resolutions, one in December 2006 and the other in March 2007, in a bid to force Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2008)