US and Iran spar ahead of Iraq report

"Iran made a fast start but then there was a leveling off," a senior UN official told Reuters. "We don't know the reasons, but the slow pace continues."

The IAEA also reported that Iran is currently enriching uranium at 3.7 percent – far from the nearly 90 percent required for a bomb. Two sets of US sanctions already target Iran. The enrichment also appears to be slower than expected.

"Ahmadinejad wants to show that he has this foreign policy success and that his robustness has worked," says Ali Ansari, author of "Confronting Iran." "He wants to maintain this mythology that Iran is a great power because it is a nuclear power, and there is this staunch belief that America is an empire in decline … and that Iraq is an indication of this decline."

The result has helped the rhetoric spiral, says Mr. Ansari, an Iran historian at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

"Of course, the more you talk about that, the more you raise the hackles on the side of the Americans, who say: 'You think we are in decline? We'll show you how in decline we are …' " adds Ansari. "There are elements in the US, as there are elements in Iran, who are keen to provoke a conflict."

IAEA may 'close files' on Iran

French President Nicolas Sarkozy this week declared the Iranian nuclear issue the worst crisis in the world, and called for more pressure upon Iran to "enable us to escape an alternative that I say is catastrophic: the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran."

Ahmadinejad brushed off Mr. Sarkozy's comments, declaring that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA was such that "from our point of view, Iran's nuclear case is closed. Iran is a nuclear nation and has the fuel cycle."

The IAEA has not yet come to that conclusion, though the agreement it struck with Iran and published this week spells out a timeline for resolving by late 2007 numerous issues that have dogged four years of inspections.

From traces of highly enriched uranium (HEU) to centrifuge designs to "alleged studies" of suspicious projects, including plans for a missile reentry vehicle, the IAEA promises to "close files" and revert to "routine" safeguard work, if Iran answers final sets of questions from the IAEA.

"This means that after receiving the questions, no other questions are left," the agreement reads. The IAEA report comes ahead of a meeting Sept. 10 of the IAEA Board of Governors, and is likely to complicate US plans to add more sanctions.

The deal has been criticized by nuclear experts. "To date, so many times the IAEA has had discussions with Iran. Iran's answers have led to more questions," says Mr. Fitzpatrick, speaking before the IAEA report came out Thursday. "It ties up loose ends before you know if there are any loose ends to tie up."

The IAEA report sought to ease those concerns Thursday, noting that only more intrusive inspections – which Iran has not permitted for more than a year – could enable verification that the program was peaceful. IAEA deputy director Olli Heinonen said. "The key is that Iran … provides the information that we need."

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