Vienna - In a significant change from its previous actions, Iran is cooperating with IAEA inspectors to resolve outstanding issues, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday in Vienna. The country was continuing to enrich uranium, however, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions calling for an enrichment freeze, the IAEA said.
In a confidential report released to its 35-nation board, the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog laid out details of a work plan negotiated with Tehran to resolve the remaining questions of Iran's nuclear programme, praising it as a "significant step forward."
Iran's cooperation is expected to counter US pressure towards a new set of sanctions against the country.
IAEA deputy director general Olli Heinonen said Iran was facing a "litmus test" that it could provide answers to IAEA questions "in a timely manner."
Iran agreed to improve access by IAEA inspectors to its enrichment facilities.
Questions regarding Iran's past plutonium experiments and high levels of enriched uranium contamination found on equipment were resolved as first results of this process, the IAEA said.
"Taking all available information into account, the agency has concluded that Iran's statements concerning these experiments are consistent with the agency's findings with respect to the dates and quantities and types of material involved in the experiments," the report said.
Iran and the IAEA agreed on a timeline to resolve a list of previously unanswered questions in the agency's four-year investigation, dealing with Iran's P1-P2 centrifuge development or blueprints of potential nuclear weapons components found in Iran.
The main question was whether Iran would keep up its cooperation. If they don't cooperate, it will backfire, a senior UN official said, commenting on the accord.
"If Iran finally addresses the long outstanding verification issues, the agency should be in a position to reconstruct the history of Iran's nuclear programme," the nine-page report said.
Diplomats hoped all questions could be solved by the end of this year, Iran's cooperation provided.
The IAEA-Iran work plan was not connected to sanctions pending at the Security Council, diplomats pointed out.
Whether or not Iran had technology that could be used for nuclear weapons was a policy decision, not to be made by the agency, one diplomat close to the IAEA said.
Iran had pursued a clandestine nuclear programme for almost two decades, triggering accusations it was pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iran claimed its efforts were solely geared towards energy production.
The report pointed out that, contrary to UN Security Council resolutions, Iran continued its uranium enrichment activities and the construction of a plutonium-producing reactor.
Sixteen 164-machine enrichment cascades were operating in various stages of completion.
Uranium was being enriched to 3.7 per cent, the IAEA said, lower than the 4.8 per cent reported by Iran. This is sufficient to produce nuclear fuel, but not to build nuclear weapons.
But, as Iran is not implementing the so-called "additional protocol" to the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), the agency's knowledge on fuel-cycle-related activities like current research is limited.
Deflecting criticism that a negotiated settlement would stipulate that there would be no more questions after those lined up by the IAEA, Heinonen stressed that the IAEA would continue to ask questions, if the answers provided were not satisfactory.
"This process continues until we can make a conclusion," Heinonen said.
