In Tehran, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi denounced the "arrogance" and "extremist posture" of certain countries over Iran's nuclear program, in a statement published by the state news agency IRNA.

Kharazi also warned that Tehran might reconsider its cooperation with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

But IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said here: "I think there is broad agreement the (IAEA) would like to see a deadline by which Iran should present all the information we need to have in order to bring this issue to closure."

"I think Iran should come with an immediate, complete declaration on its own initiative of all nuclear activities to make it easier for us to finish the job," ElBaradei told reporters as the 35 member states of the IAEA's governing board went into talks to reach agreement for a resolution on Iran.

Iranian representative Ali Akbar Salehi said here however: "We do not accept deadlines... You cannot impose deadlines on a sovereign country."

The United States on Tuesday had accused Iran of being in breach of safeguards agreements from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty but supported a proposed "last chance" for Tehran to clear up questions about its atomic program.

France, Germany and Britain jointly called on Iran to fully disclose its contested nuclear program by the end of October, in a draft resolution submitted Tuesday to the IAEA board of governors which has been meeting in Vienna since Monday.

The resolution called on "Iran to provide accelerated cooperation and full transparency" to the IAEA.

The resolution did not say what would happen if Iran did not cooperate but a Western diplomat said what was important was "that a signal is sent, that a clear bright line is laid down that Iran must comply with IAEA requests in a quick, complete and transparent manner."

The resolution now has 15 supporters declared as co-sponsors, including Japan and European countries, while three Latin American countries -- Argentina, Chile and Panama -- were said to be ready to defect from the 15-nation non-aligned bloc which wants to see a softer resolution.

Western diplomats said they had in fact majority support for the resolution but wanted to get as close to consensus backing as possible in order to send a strong signal to Iran.

Washington claims Tehran is hiding a program to develop atomic weapons. US President George W. Bush has identified Iran as part of an "axis of evil" of countries trying to develop weapons of mass destruction that included then Saddam-ruled Iraq and North Korea.

Malaysian IAEA ambassador Dato' Hussein Haniff, who heads the non-aligned bloc here, said his group rejected imposing a deadline.

"It is up to the director general (ElBaradei) to decide how he wants to prepare the report in November," on Iran that would follow the deadline.

Hussein Haniff said it was important not to alienate the Iranians "because you want to have the continuation of the process going on."

There is a second, more mild resolution, from South Africa which does not mention a deadline and Hussein Haniff said this could be ground for a compromise.

The French-German-British resolution said Iran should "remedy all failures identified by the Agency" in complying with nuclear non-proliferation safeguards.

These include "providing a full declaration" about the importers of "components stated (in an IAEA report) to have been contaminated with high enriched uranium particles," which could be weapons-grade, the resolution said.

It said Iran should "suspend all further uranium-enrichment activities," a clause Tehran particularly rejects strongly, diplomats said.

Iran should also sign an additional protocol to allow IAEA inspectors to make unannounced inspections, the resolution said.

Tehran insists that it has fully cooperated with the IAEA and denies it is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

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