New York: The latest report by the UN nuclear watchdog on Iran s suspect atomic programme is providing ammunition for adoption of new UN sanctions against Tehran next week, the US ambassador to the UN has said here.

"Some were hoping the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report would eliminate the need for the next (Security Council) resolution," Zalmay Khalilzad told a press luncheon here yesterday.

But he stressed that Iranian activities detailed by the IAEA report "so far have not reassured us that their intentions are peaceful."

Saying the six powers involved in the nuclear standoff with Iran -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- were committed to a council vote on an amended sanctions resolution next Friday, he said: "The IAEA report does give us very important points to make in support of passage" of the text.

The IAEA said yesterday it had made "quite good progress" in its long-running probe into Iran s disputed nuclear drive, but was still not in a position to offer a verdict on Tehran s nuclear ambitions.

In a confidential new report, it complained that Iran was continuing to defy UN demands to halt uranium enrichment and had started developing faster and more efficient centrifuges to produce enriched uranium, which can be used to make the fissile material for a bomb.

Khalilzad said the IAEA report showed that the Iranians "did not come clean" and that there were a number of things "that were quite disturbing" with respect to their past nuclear activities.

Source : PTI