Iran must dispel nuclear doubts 'in months': IAEA

Mohamed ElBaradei said the process of clarifying unresolved issues -- particularly over Iran's uranium enrichment activities -- could not be allowed to drag on for ever.

"It is essential for the integrity and credibility of the inspection process that we are able to bring these issues to a close within the next few months, and provide the international community with the assurances it urgently seeks regarding Iran's nuclear activities," he told the IAEA's board of governors.

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The United States has long accused Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon under cover of a civilian atomic energy program. Tehran denies this, insisting it is only interested in generating electricity.

Diplomats said the United States would be pushing at the IAEA board meeting in Vienna, expected to last at least several days, for the agency to set Iran a deadline to cooperate fully.

ElBaradei said any deadline would be a matter for the member states to decide, but his comments made clear that Iran had to stop delaying and changing its story.

"We still have a central issue, and that is whether Iran has declared all its (uranium) enrichment activities," ElBaradei said, demanding "accelerated and proactive cooperation."

He highlighted concerns over the detection of traces of low-enriched and highly-enriched uranium at sites in Iran, and over Tehran's work with advanced P2 centrifuges.

These are used in the process of enriching, or purifying, uranium for use in an atomic reactor or in a nuclear weapon.