The United Nations nuclear watchdog says in a confidential report it had found no evidence of a secret atomic weapons programme in Iran.
But it has harshly criticised Tehran for withholding information about nuclear activities.
The United States has accused Iran of using a civilian nuclear energy programme as a front to build a bomb. Iran denies this is and says it was forced to hide some activities because of decades of sanctions, which it says were illegal.
"To date there is no evidence that Iran's previously undeclared nuclear material and activities referred to above were related to a nuclear weapons programme," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in the report, parts of which were obtained by Reuters yesterday.
"However, given Iran's past pattern of concealment, it will take some time before the agency is able to conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes," it said.
The IAEA said Iran's nuclear declaration delivered ahead of an October 31st deadline for Iran to come clean aobut its atomic past made "clear that Iran has failed in a number of instances over an extended period of time to meet its obligations".
