Iran okays full freeze of uranium enrichment

Diplomats, from the European Union and elsewhere, said the commitment sent by letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna fulfilled demands that Tehran include centrifuges in its total suspension of uranium-enrichment programs.

Just hours after the letter reached the agency, diplomats said that Iran reached agreement with the European drafters of a resolution on the language of text outlining how to police the suspension.

That cleared the way for the agency's board to adopt the resolution when it reconvenes Monday, apparently ending a dispute that had threatened to escalate into possible referral of Iran to the UN Security Council for defying the agency.

A senior diplomat with nuclear expertise told The Associated Press the Iranian pledge appeared to contain no pitfalls and seemed to meet the European demands for full suspension.

But it came with strings attached. A government official from a board member country told The Associated Press that France, Germany and Britain had accepted an Iranian demand to further water down the language of a draft resolution they wrote for adoption by the board of the IAEA on ways of policing the suspension.

The text to be adopted Monday now includes an extra phrase emphasizing that the suspension is not a legal or binding obligation on Tehran's part, he said.