In an interview with the Kuwait news agency KUNA also reported by Iran’s ISNA news agency, influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said a cascade of centrifuges — devices that spin at supersonic speeds — had been operated at a facility in Natanz.
"We operated the first unit which comprises 164 centrifuges, gas was injected, and we got the industrial output," Rafsanjani was quoted as saying.
"We must expand the operation of these devices in order to become a full industrial unit, as we still need dozens of such units to become a plant for uranium enrichment," he said.
Rafsanjani, who is due to visit Kuwait on Sunday as part of a regional tour, said the nuclear issue will be on the agenda of his talks with Kuwaiti leaders.
The report came after hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the country to expect "good news" later Tuesday about the nuclear drive, with press reports hinting that progress has been made in uranium enrichment.
Enrichment is the process used to manufacture fuel for civil nuclear power stations but can be also be extended to manufacture the fissile core of an atomic bomb.
On March 29, the UN Security Council called on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment to provide a watertight guarantee that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
It asked International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report on Iranian compliance after 30 days. Iran categorically rejects charges that it is seeking atomic weapons and has so far rejected the ultimatum.
"God willing, the Iranian people will hear news that will make them happy. They should kneel down and thank God, since it the time of thanksgiving," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency.
According to the Jomhuri Islami newspaper, the "good news" will be that Iran has managed to enrich uranium to 3.5 percent — the level needed to make reactor fuel — and will therefore join "the club of countries having nuclear fuel".