The UN's nuclear watchdog has urged Iran to allow stricter inspections of its nuclear facilities in a compromise move which failed to meet US calls to condemn the Islamic Republic's atomic programme.
A statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 'urged Iran to promptly and unconditionally conclude and implement an additional protocol to its safeguards agreement' to allow inspections of all sites, including those not declared by Tehran.
But the statement, which was swiftly rejected by Iran, did not match US aspirations for a clear condemnation of Tehran. The US President, George W Bush, branded Iran as part of an 'axis of evil' along with Iraq and North Korea.
Mr Bush, still fresh from his victory in the US-led war to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, said on Wednesday that the world must warn Tehran that it 'will not tolerate' any development of nuclear weapons by the Islamic regime.
In a report to the IAEA Board of Governors, the head of the IAEA, Mohammad ElBaradei, said Iran had failed to comply with international agreements on inspections but was making efforts to correct this.
Dr ElBaradei said the IAEA had reached a 'broad sense' at the meeting 'that made it clear that Iran should accept (a new protocol for inspections) without any conditions'.
But the call was swiftly rejected by Iran's representative at the meeting, which opened in Vienna on Monday.
'We have dissociated ourselves from that part of the statement,' Ali Selehi told reporters, saying Tehran had the backing of 15 non-aligned countries on the 35-nation board.
The board also 'called on Iran to permit the agency to take environmental samples at the particular location where allegation about enrichment activities exists,' a reference to an electrical plant where IAEA inspectors were turned away.
