The United States said it would renew efforts to secure extra UN sanctions against Iran. Tehran, which denies seeking an atomic bomb, said the new report proved there were no military intentions behind its nuclear activities.

Britain and France said they needed more time to study the report, but both called on Iran to cooperate fully with the international community.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report acknowledged that Iran had provided "sufficient access" to individuals and responded in a "timely manner" to questions and requests for clarifications.

"However, its cooperation has been reactive rather than pro-active." it added.

Specifically, the IAEA complained that Iran had not met repeated UN demands to suspend its enrichment-related activities. The UN Security Council has already imposed two sets of sanctions over the refusal.

The IAEA report insisted that suspension of the programme was crucial if Iran wanted to secure international support.

Information provided thus far by Iran to the IAEA about the so-called P1 and P2 centrifuges used to enrich uranium, had matched or been consistent with the agency's own findings, said an official close to the IAEA.

However, "the agency's knowledge about Iran's current nuclear programme is diminishing," said the report.

Last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran had reached a key target of 3,000 centrifuges enriching uranium, which is the number sufficient to produce enough enriched uranium in one year to make a single nuclear bomb.

And for the first time, a senior UN official confirmed Tehran's claim.

The United States said it would seek further UN sanctions against Tehran.

"This report sadly makes clear that Iran seems uninterested in working with the rest of the world," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"The United States will work with our partners on the UN Security Council and Germany as we move towards a third set of Security Council sanctions," Perino said.

In Vienna, the US ambassador to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, said Iran had "failed the test of full disclosure."

The IAEA report "shows that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA remains selective and incomplete," Schulte said.

"Diplomacy remains our preferred course," he insisted.

Britain said it needed time to draw up a more detailed response to the report, but that sanctions remained an option.

"If Iran wants to restore trust in its programme it must come clean on all outstanding issues without delay," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

A French foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that they had taken note of the report, but a full response would come after they had studied it properly.

But he added: "We call on Iran to respond without delay to all the demands of the international community."

In Tehran, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili warned the country's cooperation with the IAEA would be affected if the UN Security Council ordered a third round of sanctions.

The IAEA report had proved that Iran's atomic drive was peaceful and that claims it had military aims "are not true", Jalili insisted.

"For those who had doubts about the Iranian nuclear programme, the report is very clear and indicates that the basis upon which the nuclear case was referred to the Security Council has collapsed," he said.

In Vienna, UN officials chose to highlight the positive aspects of the report.

"If we're talking about whether the glass is half full or half empty, the glass is half full," one official close to the IAEA said.

"We've made substantial progress. The work plan has started to kick in after so much scepticism," the official said, referring to a deal reached between the IAEA and Iran in August for answering the outstanding issues.

The UN official said the IAEA was "on track" with respect to the key question of Iran's nuclear knowledge and past use of so-called P1 and P2 centrifuges, the technology used to enrich uranium.

But the jury was "still out" on key issues such as possible military applications, the official said.

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