The watchdog's chief Yukiya Amano said he had written to the minister on November 18 "to request the government to provide the agency with prompt access to relevant information and locations" connected to an alleged nuclear site.

"I also requested Syria's cooperation regarding the agency's verification activities in general," Amano said in his opening address to the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board of governors.

Amano told reporters later that it was the first time that an IAEA director general had contacted the Syrian government directly about the agency's probe.

Diplomats close to the IAEA saw it as a sign of the Japanese diplomat's growing impatience with Damascus.

"He's trying to move things along," one diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some diplomats suggest Amano could soon start pushing for a "special inspection" in Damascus, a rarely-used tool that allows UN inspectors to request more intrusive access to sites.

If Syria were to block that request, it could face referral to the UN Security Council.

But Amano refused to say if he was ready to take that step.

"For the time being, I am awaiting the response from Syria," he told reporters. "And while waiting, it is not appropriate for me to speculate what will happen if there is not an answer."

Damascus is accused of having been in the process of building an undeclared reactor at a remote desert site called Dair Alzour until it was bombed by Israeli planes in September 2007.

The IAEA has been investigating the allegations since 2008 and has already said that the building bore some of the characteristics of a nuclear facility.

UN inspectors also detected "significant" traces of man-made uranium at that site, as yet unexplained by Damascus.

In addition, the watchdog has also requested access to three other locations allegedly functionally related to Dair Alzour, but so far to no avail.

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