(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-14 14:06

VIENNA, Austria -- Iran has promised the UN's chief nuclear inspector it will answer all remaining questions about its past nuclear activities within four weeks, including secret activities the US suspects were linked to a weapons program, officials said Sunday.

Iranian technicians work inside the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in southern Iran, in 2006. The UN atomic watchdog announced on Sunday that Iran has agreed to clear up remaining questions on its nuclear programme -- including any military activity -- in four weeks. [Agencies]

The time limit was announced by the spokeswoman for Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, at the end of his talks in Tehran with Iranian leaders.

Iran is under two sets of UN Security Council sanctions for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear arms, and Washington is pushing for additional UN penalties.

In Abu Dhabi on Sunday, President Bush said Iran "defies the United Nations and destabilizes the region by refusing to be open and transparent about its nuclear programs and ambitions." Calling the country the "world's leading state sponsor of terror," he urged Arab nations to join with the US to confront the danger "before it's too late."

The government in Tehran says it never worked on atomic weapons and wants to enrich uranium only to produce fuel for reactors that would generate electricity.

ElBaradei also was given new information on Iran's "new generation of centrifuges" during weekend talks with Iranian leaders, said his spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming. That issue is a priority for the agency as it tries to establish how far advanced Iran is in developing the technology.

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