FACTBOX: Outlook in standoff over Iran's nuclear program

(Reuters) - World powers played down prospects for a deal on new sanctions against Iran ahead of a meeting on Tuesday aimed at raising pressure on Tehran to curb sensitive nuclear activity.

Here are some details on what may follow in the longstanding international dispute over Iran's nuclear activity:

* IAEA-IRAN RELATIONS:

-- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Mohamed ElBaradei hopes to resolve remaining questions about Iran's murky nuclear development by the next session of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors in early March.

-- But settling past issues would not put Iran in the clear. It has done little to meet international demands for transparency about the scope of its current program, by granting wider-ranging, short-notice inspections needed by the IAEA to verify there is no parallel military nuclear activity beyond a few declared civilian sites. ElBaradei won agreement from Iran earlier this month to answer questions about its past covert nuclear work within four weeks -- by mid-February -- and some countries may prefer to wait before agreeing new sanctions. Iran also gave ElBaradei information on its development of advanced enrichment centrifuges for the first time.

-- ElBaradei's next in a series of quarterly reports on Iran is due in late February ahead of the March 3-7 IAEA meeting.

* SANCTIONS:

-- A U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report released last month took U.S. friends and foes by surprise after years of strident rhetoric from Washington accusing Iran of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program.

-- The NIE said Iran stopped actively trying to "weaponize" nuclear material in 2003 but also that it still seeking to perfect production of enriched uranium, a process that could be eventually reconfigured to make bombs if Iran so decided.

-- The NIE's findings slowed a U.S.-led push for tougher U.N. sanctions against Iran in the near future. Russia and China, both commercial partners of Iran, have hardened their opposition to tougher sanctions since the report. But the United States and France said they would still pursue a third round of penalties, despite Russian and Chinese opposition.

-- French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said broader sanctions could range from financial and investment freezes to travel and visa bans, an arms embargo and possible restrictions on oil trading.

(Writing by David Cutler, Editing by Mark Heinrich)