Iran suspends key nuke acts to avert sanctions

The suspension was confirmed by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of UN atomic watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"I think pretty much everything has come to a halt right now," ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna.

"We're just trying to apply seals and make sure everything has been stopped," he said, adding that operations at the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan had also stopped.

The suspension, which Iran said would come into effect on Monday, came three days ahead of a meeting of the IAEA board to discuss Iran's case.

Washington wants the IAEA board to refer Iran to the Security Council and sanctions imposed on Tehran for failing to disclose a range of nuclear work and facilities in the past.

But Iran -- which says its nuclear program is geared entirely to electricity generation, not bombs -- last week struck a deal with the European Union to avoid Security Council referral if it suspended sensitive nuclear work.

The EU hopes to persuade Iran in the coming months to make the temporary suspension permanent by offering it a range of economic and political incentives. But Washington is skeptical that Iran will stick to any deal and Iran says it will never abandon its nuclear program.

Scepticism about Iran's intentions was heightened last week when diplomats revealed it had stepped up some uranium conversion activities just ahead of the suspension.

ElBaradei confirmed Iran had produced several tonnes of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the form of uranium used in the enrichment process. Enrichment is a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel in atomic power plants or weapons.

He said Iran had produced around two tonnes of UF6 which would not have been enough for a weapon. Iran had previously denied the reports that it had produced UF6.

IAEA inspectors currently in Iran are expected to verify that Iran has halted all such activities and to seal the facilities where they are carried out.

Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment as part of a deal similar to one it made with Britain, Germany and France in October 2003.

But that deal subsequently unravelled and Iran resumed building and assembly key nuclear parts.

That behavior, coupled with the fact that the IAEA still has several outstanding questions about an atomic program which Iran kept secret for nearly two decades, means many diplomats fear Iran will find a reason to resume uranium enrichment again in the future.