VIENNA, Sept 2: The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday questions remained about Iran’s nuclear programme and that Tehran had resumed activities suspended under a deal with the EU, setting the stage for possible referral to the UN Security Council.

The confidential report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the agency was ‘still not in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran’.

The report, authored by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, said: “In view of the fact that the Agency is not yet in a position to clarify some of the important outstanding issues after two-and-a-half years of intensive inspections and investigation, Iran’s full transparency is indispensable and overdue.”

Tehran had angered the EU by resuming uranium processing work last month at a plant in Isfahan – a move which has brought talks between Iran and the EU close to collapse and led EU officials to threaten UN Security Council referral.

“The whole (Isfahan plant) is operating,” a senior official close to the IAEA said about the agency’s findings.

The IAEA’s report that Iran had refused to resume the suspension, which was the cornerstone of a November deal with France, Britain and Germany, would likely prompt the European Union to join Washington in pushing for the case to be referred to the Security Council for punitive action, EU diplomats said.

The IAEA board of governors called upon Tehran on Aug 11 to resume the suspension and asked Mr ElBaradei to report on compliance by Sept 3.

The report says Iran needed to give the IAEA access to all documents, individuals and sites that were relevant to its nuclear programme, which Washington says is aimed at developing atomic weapons.

But the report makes it clear that Iran has not been entirely forthcoming.

“Two-and-a-half years have passed and patience is wearing thin,” the senior official close to the IAEA said.

Iran, which denies wanting the bomb, says it has answered almost all of the IAEA’s questions about its atomic Activities and shown its ambitions are limited to harnessing nuclear power to generate electricity.

The IAEA report alleged Iran’s history of hiding its nuclear activities meant it would take longer than usual to conclude that Tehran was no longer concealing anything. “In view of that past undeclared nature of significant aspects of Iran’s nuclear programme, and its past pattern of concealment, this conclusion can be expected to take longer than in normal circumstances.” —Reuters