Iran seemed to have seized the diplomatic initiative when it delivered a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Thursday to allay international concern about its nuclear program, just a week ahead of an October 31 deadline to prove it is not secretly developing atomic weapons.

The IAEA has been trying since February to clarify key questions with Iran but the Islamic Republic only issued the report after reaching an agreement this week with three leading EU foreign ministers.

Iran admits in the report to failures in honoring nuclear safeguards commitments, Ali Akbar Salehi, the Iranian representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday.

Salehi said the new failures involved "some lab tests" but he said they were "not significant" and that "it is 100-percent clear that Iran has never been involved in anything that would indicate it was involved in a nuclear weapons program."

The ministers from Britain, France and Germany had come to Tehran Tuesday to persuade Iran to come clean on its nuclear program and allow tougher inspections of nuclear sites.

Diplomats close to the IAEA said these three countries would now be in Iran's corner when the IAEA board of governors meets on November 20 to decide whether Iran has fully answered the agency's questions about enriching uranium that could be weapons-grade and other possibly weapons-oriented programs.

Non-compliance by Iran could lead the nuclear watchdog to take the issue to the UN Security Council, which could then impose punishing sanctions on Tehran.

The United States has already said that Iran is in non-compliance, charging it with dodging international safeguards controls by secretly trying to find ways to enrich uranium.

But, said one Western diplomat, "the three (European) nations think Iran is willing to carry out some sort of commitment and should be encouraged."

In addition, it would take the IAEA "months, if not years" to verify information from Iran, if the IAEA judged that the report was a sincere and serious effort.

This would seem to weaken the United States' hand in seeking condemnation of Iran for its alleged atomic weapons development activities.

But a senior Western diplomat said: "We have to see whether this is a full and complete report on the history of their nuclear program or whether it isn't."

"We're all waiting to see what's in there," he said.

"Based on the track record of Iran in terms of providing information, we have to be sceptical until the agency verifies that everything that should have been submitted has been submitted," he said.

The diplomat said that if "the Iranians are truly coming clean then they will have to report to the board and therefore to the world a number of activities that would be in clear violation of their safeguards obligations."

This would mean that "if what they submit is anywhere near accurate, there should be a catalogue of a number of acts of non-compliance of safeguards agreements."

"That would suggest there will be grounds for a non-compliance resolution," the diplomat said.

But others said this logic will not work if Iran does give facts on its program and then shows good faith by signing a protocol allowing unrestricted and unannounced inspections.

"The only way to make a clear decision is if the Iranians are clearly in non-compliance," such as getting caught hiding an enrichment facility, said another diplomat.

"Otherwise it takes time to verify what is an extremely complex nuclear program that is 20 years old," he said.

He stressed however that the international community must not let itself be deceived and "must proceed by maintaining pressure on the Iranians."

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