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

Announcing the deadline, Fleming spoke only in general terms, without mentioning what was being now probed by agency experts under a plan agreed to last summer. But diplomats said that investigation was now in its final stage, focusing on programs with possible weapons applications.

The probe originally was slated to be completed in December, and the United States and its allies have been chafing at the delay, say diplomats accredited to the IAEA. But they are unlikely to object publicly if the extension allows ElBaradei to reveal details of such secret programs.

The e-mailed comments by Fleming were issued just a few hours after ElBaradei's plane touched down in Vienna, ending a two-day visit to Tehran that included unprecedented meetings with both Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The diplomat said the talks went "very well," adding that -- beyond discussing the progress of his agency's probe into Iran's nuclear past -- ElBaradei was able to press his case for the need for the country to suspend uranium enrichment, a key UN Security Council demand.

Separately, however, a senior diplomat expressed doubt ElBaradei was able to persuade the Iranians to freeze enrichment and noted Western efforts for additional UN sanctions against the Islamic republic would continue unless that condition was met. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the issue.

A White House spokesman traveling with Bush said that Iran's agreement to answer questions about its past nuclear activities "is a step, but they still need to suspend their enrichment and reprocessing activity."

"Another declaration is no substitute for complying with the UN sanctions." Gordon Johndroe said.

In agreeing to the IAEA probe last year, Iran agreed to answer all lingering questions about its past nuclear activities -- including those it has evaded since 2003, when nearly 20 years of Iranian clandestine atomic work were revealed.

Diplomats have told the AP that the IAEA probe is now using evidence provided by the US and its close allies to back its allegations, and one said Sunday that the IAEA recently shared some of the formerly classified information with Iran, with Washington's permission, to aid with the probe.

Among the material is data on a laptop computer reportedly smuggled out of Iran. In 2005, US intelligence said that information suggested that the country had been working details of nuclear weapons, including missile trajectories and ideal altitudes for exploding warheads.

US intelligence was also shared with the agency regarding the "Green Salt Project" -- a plan that the US alleges links diverse components of a nuclear weapons program, including uranium enrichment, high explosives testing and a missile re-entry vehicle.

The IAEA is also interested in activities at a former research center at Lavizan-Shian, which Iran razed before allowing agency inspectors access. The center is believed to have been the repository of equipment bought by the Iranian military that could be used in a nuclear weapons program.

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