Chief of the UN nuclear activities watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei urged on Monday Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities and pursue transparent nuclear policies in order to settle the dispute over its nuclear program through dialogue.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has made steady progress in understanding the nature and extent of Iran's undeclared nuclear program since it started the verifying process in February 2003, IAEA Director General ElBaradei told the GeneralAssembly.

Iran's cooperation with IAEA in the verification process "has improved appreciably" after the IAEA Board of Governors repeatedlyexpressed its concern over Iran's earlier slow interactions with the agency, he said.

Iran announced a series of measures to voluntarily suspend uranium enrichment related and reprocessing activities, but some of the measures were reversed later.

"I have continued to stress to Iran that, in light of serious international concerns surrounding its nuclear program, it should do its utmost to build confidence through these voluntary measures," ElBaradei stressed.

"I have also asked Iran to pursue a policy of maximum transparency, so that we can bring the outstanding issues to resolution and, over time, provide the required assurance to the international community," he added.

"This is clearly in the interest of both Iran and the international community and should, in my view, lead to a dialogueamong all interested parties with a view to reaching a comprehensive settlement of all the underlying issues."

ElBaradei said investigation into the extent and nature of Iran's uranium enrichment activities is "central" to understanding thecountry's nuclear program.

He hoped that he would be able to provide a comprehensive report on progress of the investigation to the IAEA Board of Governors, composed of 35 countries, later in November.

ElBaraidei also touched the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). He said the situation in the DPRK "continues to pose a serious challenge to the nuclear non-proliferation regime."

He noted that since December 2002, IAEA has not performed any verification activities in the DPRK, and cannot therefore provide any level of assurance about the non-diversion of its nuclear material.

ElBaradei expressed the hope that the six-party talks, involving China, Japan, the United States, Russia, South Korea andthe DPRK, would lead to a comprehensive settlement of the crisis surrounding the DPRK's nuclear program.

Source: Xinhua