(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-16 10:09

VIENNA, Austria -- A report from the UN nuclear watchdog agency on Thursday found Iran to be generally truthful about key aspects of its nuclear history, but it warned that its knowledge of Tehran's present atomic work was shrinking.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, speaks with journalists during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007. Jalili said Thursday that the UN nuclear watchdog report proves accusations that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons are baseless and that new sanctions against the country would be wrong. [Agencies]

The White House said it would continue to push for a third round of UN sanctions against Iran despite the findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency report.

The IAEA report, released to its 35 board members, also confirmed that Tehran continued to defy the UN Security Council by ignoring its repeated demands to freeze uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear arms.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the report indicated that Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities and continues to defy the international community.

"We believe that selective cooperation is not good enough," she said. "Iran continues to walk away from a deal that has been offered to them. We said they can have a civil nuclear program if they'll just suspend their current activities."

But top Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili said the report shows that new sanctions would be "illegal action," adding that Iran has answered all the questions by the IAEA and made "good progress" in cooperating with it.

In light of the IAEA report, "many accusations are now baseless," Jalili said, referring to U.S. assertions that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.

"Those powers who base their accusations on this I hope will reconsider what they say," he said.

If new UN sanctions are approved, "you should be asking what is the logic in this," Jalili told reporters in Tehran.

Britain's Foreign Office also said it would pursue further sanctions from the Security Council and the European Union.

"If Iran wants to restore trust in its program, it must come clean on all outstanding issues without delay," the statement said. It also said Tehran must restore broader and stronger inspection rights to IAEA teams and mothball its enrichment activities to avoid such penalties.

Much of the 10-page report made available to The Associated Press focused on the history of Iran's black-market procurements and past development of its enrichment technology -- and the agency appeared to be giving Tehran a pass on that issue, repeatedly saying it concludes that "Iran's statements are consistent with ... information available to the agency."

A senior UN official said that language did not mean that the IAEA's investigation into past enrichment activities was "closed," even though a work plan between the agency and Tehran set November as the deadline for clearing up the issue.

In Washington, the State Department suggested that China was blocking plans for a new meeting, tentatively set for Monday, of the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany to discuss a new sanctions resolution.

"Frankly, what we need now is for the Chinese to play a constructive role in scheduling the meeting, but also to have constructive, effective conversations about the elements of the resolution," spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"We're looking for them to play a constructive role," he said. "They have in the past and we're looking for them to again take up a constructive role in scheduling the meeting and once we have the meeting coming to agreement on the elements and language of the resolution."

McCormack declined to comment specifically on what China had told the other members of the group about the meeting to be held at the political directors level.

Jalili insisted Iran has an irrefutable right to its nuclear program.

"Iran has shown it is working within the framework of the law but at the same time, we want our (nuclear) rights," Jalili said. "We have done everything to have a peaceful nuclear program."

He said the IAEA report listed a "number of articles that refer to Iran's cooperation with the agency" and that this shows claims of nuclear material being used for a military program have been false.

Jalili insisted Iran was enthusiastic about continuing talks with the IAEA, which he said now has "complete supervision" of Iran's uranium enrichment program.

Last week, Iran said it stepped up uranium enrichment activities by fully running 3,000 centrifuges at its nuclear plant in the central city of Natanz. It would take some 54,000 centrifuges to fuel a reactor.

Two rounds of UN sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to halt the uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel to generate electricity or fissile material for a warhead.