As the International Atomic Energy Agency began a board of governors meeeting here, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters that both Iran and Libya had been in breach of international nuclear non-proliferation safeguards accords for many years.

He stressed that he expected full transparency from the two countries to restore trust.

The United States charges that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, but Tehran maintains its nuclear program is strictly peaceful.

Responding to Tehran's call for the IAEA to close its file on Iran's nuclear programme, ElBaradei said "that depends very much... on the kind of cooperation we hopefully will continue to receive from Iran."

ElBaradei said that both Iran and Libya "have been in breach of their obligations under the safeguards agreement" of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"In view of many years of violation of non-proliferation obligations by Libya and Iran, I am asking for the provision of information and a full measure of transparency," he said.

Iran insisted Monday that it was providing full disclosure, saying it was abiding by agreements in force.

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA Pirooz Hosseini told reporters Tehran did not say everything in a report last October "because what we announced at that time was based on our obligations under the safeguard agreement" of the NPT.

In December, Iran signed an additional protocol to the NPT allowing for wider inspections and Hosseini said that "according to the time line of the additional protocol, we are going to provide every information which is necessary for the agency."

But ElBaradei told the 35-nation IAEA board Monday that he was "seriously concerned that Iran's October declaration did not include any reference to its possession of P-2 centrifuge designs (for making enriched uranium which could be weapon-grade) and related R&D (research and development) which in my view was a setback to Iran's stated policy of transparency."

ElBaradei said "this was particularly the case" since the October declaration was trumpeted by Iran as providing "the full scope of Iranian nuclear activities" including "a complete centrifuge R & D chronology."

The IAEA said in a report last month that Iran had failed to declare possibly weapons-related atomic activities despite promising full disclosure and warned Tehran to make sure this didn't happen again.

The IAEA board is expected to report Libya to the UN Security Council for previous non-compliance with the NPT but praise it for its current cooperation in eliminating weapons development programs.

A Western diplomat said that Libya was "almost done in revealing its nuclear program" and the non-compliance declaration would merely be a "pro-forma" way of closing the chapter with no threat of sanctions against the North African country.

Washington knows that it does not have enough backing among the 34 other countries represented on the IAEA board to report Iran to the Security Council with a threat of sanctions.

The United States is pushing hard for a resolution that will condemn Iran for hiding sensitive aspects of its nuclear program but diplomats at the IAEA said the language of the draft was too strong and they intended to seek negotiations for a more acceptable text.

US Undersecretary of State John Bolton said in Lisbon last week: "We are absolutely determined not to reduce the pressure on Iran."

ElBaradei said he would also report to the board at a meeting that could last until Friday "revelations of the black market in trading nuclear equipment and nuclear material."

He said the IAEA is investigating how widely the market spread after supplying Libya and Iran with illicit technologies.

Experts have said Syria and perhaps Saudi Arabia may be involved but IAEA officials have not named any countries.

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