Iran says it will continue to cooperate with UN nuclear watchdog but won't take a step beyond its legal obligation and commitments.

"We will keep cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency but we will not take a step beyond the Comprehensive Safeguard Agreements and the Modality Plan," said Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

According to Soltaniyeh, Iran expected the IAEA to act within its obligations in return.

Safeguards are activities by which the IAEA seeks to verify that a state is not diverting nuclear material or equipment to produce nuclear weapons. The IAEA has safeguards agreements in force with more than 140 countries around the world. Most of these are comprehensive safeguards agreements concluded pursuant to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The Modality Plan is also an agreement between the IAEA and Iran aimed at clearing up the remaining ambiguities about Iran's nuclear program.

Iran, a signatory to the NPT, has asserted it seeks nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Western powers accuse the Islamic Republic of seeking a secret nuclear weapons program.

The allegations come as the latest report by Mohamed ElBaradei, circulated to members of the IAEA's board of governors on Monday, said the agency has failed to discover any 'components of a nuclear weapon' or 'related nuclear physics studies' in Iran.

Soltaniyeh also said that the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement have agreed to issue another statement in support of Iran's nuclear program. According to Soltaniyeh, the statement was drawn up on Tuesday.

The NAM, comprising 118 countries, is an international organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It represents nearly two-thirds of the UN members.

AR/JG/PA