Iran atom drive slows but more clarity needed: IAEA

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran's uranium enrichment program is operating well below capacity and is far from producing nuclear fuel in significant amounts, according to a confidential U.N. nuclear watchdog report obtained by Reuters.

A senior Iranian nuclear official said the report showed Western suspicions that Iran was trying to build a nuclear bomb were baseless.

Iran struck a transparency deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency on August 21 to answer questions about the nature of its program which Iran says is aimed purely at electricity production.

"The work plan is a significant step forward," said the IAEA safeguards report, but it stressed resolving current issues was not enough to give Iran's nuclear work a clean bill of health.

As long as Iran refused to allow wider-ranging inspections of sites not declared to be nuclear, the agency would be unable to verify Iran did not have a secret military nuclear facility.

"Iran would need to continue to build confidence about the scope and nature of its present and future nuclear programme," the report said.

However, the report's detail on Iranian cooperation with the IAEA, and Tehran's lack of significant enrichment progress, may well blunt Washington's push for painful sanctions over Iran's repeated refusal to suspend enrichment work.

The United Nations has imposed two sets of sanctions on Tehran since December.