UN asks Iran for swifter answers

The two officials said they had held a "friendly and frank" discussion

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to speed up co-operation over its nuclear programme.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei was speaking at the start of a two-day visit to Iran.

Mr ElBaradei is hoping to clarify the scope of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme, which the West fears could be used to produce a bomb.

Tehran insists the programme is solely to generate electricity.

Mr ElBaradei said he had held a "friendly and frank" exchange of views on Friday with the head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh.

"I discussed with (Mr Aghazadeh) how we can work together to accelerate the pace of our co-operation to clarify all outstanding issues before my report in March," Mr ElBaradei said.

He said he had asked Iran "to give us maximum transparency and provide assurances about all present nuclear activities".

Mr Aghazadeh said the IAEA could be assured of Iran's full co-operation.

Ahead of Mr ElBaradei's visit the deputy head of Iran's nuclear agency, Mohammed Saeedi, said co-operation with the IAEA had entered a new phase.

As well as meeting the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr ElBaradei is expected to hold talks with top officials including Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Enriching uranium

He has been trying to resolve various issues about the history of Iran's nuclear programme.

Mr ElBaradei wants maximum transparency from Iran

Mr ElBaradei will also be looking at how to monitor Iran's future nuclear activities.

But so far he has made little progress in persuading Iran to stop the controversial process of enriching uranium, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran.

The US is currently pushing for a third round of UN sanctions against Iran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium, a process which can be used both to make atomic fuel and a bomb.

Washington has said it believes Iran is planning to build a nuclear bomb.

Its campaign for tougher sanctions lost some steam when a US intelligence report last month suggested Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

But US President George W Bush, who is currently visiting the region, still says that Iran is a threat to world security.

"Iran will be a threat to world peace if the international community does not come together and prevent that nation from the development of the know-how to build a nuclear weapon," Mr Bush said on Wednesday during a visit to Israel.

Tehran insists that its sole aim is to generate electricity that does not rely on a finite supply of fossil fuels.