US gives Iran until March to cooperate with IAEA

The United States set a March deadline today for Iran to start cooperating in substance with a UN nuclear agency investigation, saying it would otherwise urge reporting the issue to the UN Security Council.

Comments by US diplomat Robert Wood to the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency signalled Washington's growing frustration at a lack of results in the IAEA's inquiry into possible military dimensions to Tehran's nuclear program. Iran says the program has only peaceful goals.

"If by March Iran has not begun substantive cooperation with the IAEA, the United States ... would urge the board to consider reporting this lack of progress to the UN Security Council," Wood said, according to a copy of his statement.

"Iran cannot be allowed to indefinitely ignore its obligations ... Iran must act now, in substance," Wood said.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano earlier said the UN agency had made no progress in a year-long push to find out if Iran worked on developing an atomic bomb.