VIENNA, Austria – A report released Thursday showing a slow but steady expansion of Iran’s nuclear technology has exposed a new divide between the U.N. arms inspectors and the United States and its allies over how to contain Tehran’s atomic program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in its report that Tehran was being unusually cooperative in agreeing to answer questions about an array of suspicious nuclear activities that have led many nations to believe it is concealing an effort to make nuclear arms. The report added that although Tehran’s uranium enrichment effort is growing, the output is far less than what experts had expected.
“This is the first time Iran is ready to discuss all the outstanding issues which triggered the crisis in confidence,” said Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA director general. “It’s a significant step.”
But the Bush administration and its allies, which have won sanctions against Iran in the Security Council in an effort to stop uranium enrichment, saw the new report as more evidence of defiance.
“There is no partial credit here,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. “Iran has refused to comply with its international obligations, and, as a result of that, the international community is going to continue to ratchet up the pressure.”
In Paris, Pascale Andreani, the French Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that as long as Iran does not give a clear decision about suspending its enrichment activities, France will work with others to tighten the sanctions.
ElBaradei stopped short of calling for a delay in the U.S.-led strategy to impose new sanctions. “I’m clear at this stage you need to give Iran a chance to prove its stated goodwill. Sanctions alone, I know for sure, are not going to lead to a durable solution.”
The report released Thursday, a quarterly update of Iran’s nuclear activity, said it is operating nearly 2,000 centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium, at its vast underground facility at Natanz, an increase of several hundred machines from three months ago. More than 650 centrifuges are being tested or are under construction, the agency said.
That number is far short of Iran’s projection that by now it would be running 3,000 centrifuges. The IAEA also reported that uranium being processed by the working centrifuges at Natanz is “well below the expected quantity for a facility of this design.” In addition, the agency reported that uranium was enriched to a lower level than the Iranians had claimed.
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a group in Washington that tracks nuclear proliferation, said his calculations, based on the report’s data, suggested that Iran was operating its centrifuges at as little as 10 percent of their potential. “That’s very low – and we don’t know why,” he said.
On August 27, Iran published public information report about its nuclear program, thus unveiling a part of outstanding issues still in discussion with  (IAEA). In this document, Tehran provide clarifications about plutonium experiments and shows signs of cooperation in clearing up questions about its efforts to acquire nuclear technology. The IAEA issued a new report on August 30, and distributed copies of its report ahead of a September 10 meeting of the organization's 35-member board.

This report also reflects findings about a work plan concluded on August 21. The United Nations nuclear watchdog report praised Iran for agreeing to a new work plan and planning to resolve numerous questions about its nuclear program. 

Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA director general, said in reaction to these reports: "This is the first time Iran is ready to discuss all the outstanding issues which triggered the crisis in confidence. It's a significant step."

The assessment of Iran nuclear cooperation could make it more difficult for the United States and its allies to win tougher U.N. sanctions against Iran. 

In Iran, the Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) for International Affairs, Mohammad Saeedi, said that the IAEA report « put an end to all US baseless allegations on Iran's separation activities and reprocessing plutonium.»