Powell told IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei he was "very pleased" at a tough resolution adopted by the IAEA governing board last week, which rebuked Iran for failing to come clean about its nuclear program but stopped short of setting a deadline for Tehran to reveal all its atomic activities.

"We hope that in the weeks and months ahead, the Iranians will satisfy all the concerns that members of the international community still have," Powell told reporters after meeting ElBaradei at the State Department.

"They have been put on notice once again rather firmly and strongly in this new resolution that the international community is expecting them to answer its questions and to respond fully, he said.

ElBaradei, who stood alongside Powell, pledged the IAEA's commitment to resolving lingering questions about the program "as soon as we can."

"I have been asking, as the board also has been asking, Iran to become pro-active, to become transparent and to be fully cooperative," he said. "I hope I see that mode of cooperation in the next few months.

"I think that the international community is urgently seeking assurance from the agency that Iran's program is exclusively for a peaceful purpose," ElBaradei said.

On Friday, the IAEA board deplored the level of Iranian cooperation and called for the agency's 15-month-old investigation into Iran's alleged nuclear weapons activities to be wrapped up in months.

The United States accuses Iran of using a stated civilian atomic energy program as a cover for nuclear weapons development, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.

Since adoption of the IAEA resolution, Iranian officials have decried the move but also responded with mixed signals.

On Saturday, Iran's top national security official and nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, had reacted angrily to the criticism and said the Islamic republic's pledge to suspend uranium enrichment would be reviewed.

But on Sunday, the foreign ministry said Tehran could soon resume the assembly of centrifuges used in the enrichment process but does not yet intend to resume the process itself, which can be used to produce both fuel for a nuclear reactor or for a nuclear bomb.

Under pressure from the IAEA and following the intervention of Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed in October to suspend enrichment and related activities while the IAEA probe continued.

Before Powell spoke, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher noted "contradictory statements (from Iranian officials) about their intentions regarding uranium enrichment" and called on Iran to meet IAEA demands to come clean.

The resolution "left no doubt that Iran should come clean, fully cooperate with the IAEA and fully honor its commitments," he told reporters.

"Obviously, Iran's past record does not give us confidence that they will meet the terms of this resolution, but we have, I think, placed the ball firmly in Iran's court to meet the conditions and the requirements as well as its own promises."

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