ElBaradei also announced after close to five hours of intense talks with Iran's nuclear point-man -- national security chief Hassan Rowhani -- that the two sides had agreed on an action plan and timetable to clear up lingering questions over Iran's nuclear programme.

"Dr. Rowhani assured me that we will get some important information before the end of this month and that we would also hope to get information under the additional protocol by mid-May," ElBaradei told reporters.

"We agreed on an action plan with timetable on how to move forward with the major outstanding issues," added the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Last October Iran gave the IAEA what it asserted was a complete declaration of its nuclear activities, but was later found to have made a number of omissions -- including that it had acquired designs for sophisticated P-2 centrifuges.

But in December, it signed the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which sets tougher conditions for IAEA inspections and declarations filed to the Vienna-based agency.

"We hope to get information under the additional protocol by mid-May," said ElBaradei, who is on his third visit to the Islamic republic in just over a year.

"These are obviously welcome and positive steps. I would like to see that we would continue our work without further delay.

"I think it is in the interests of Iran and the interests of the international community that we complete our work here as early as possible, so I can tell you that I am quite satisfied with the result of my meeting with Dr. Rowhani and I look forward to continuing active and intensified cooperation with the Islamic republic of Iran," he added.

Sources close to the talks said the bulk of the negotiations were focused on hammering out the action plan -- a series of steps that both the IAEA and Iran have to take to answer issues that have aroused widespread international suspicions.

These include Iran's work on the P-2 centrifuge and the accounting for traces of weapons-grade uranium found by the IAEA at two sites here, which Iran asserts came into the country on equipment bought on the black market from Pakistan.

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