"We're not far," said one diplomat at the IAEA, noting that delegates to the 35-nation board of governors had to go through the time-consuming process of obtaining approval for alterations to the text in their home capitals.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned earlier that Tehran could back away from key commitments if the IAEA's board of governors takes a hardline stand over its nuclear programme, which Iran says is solely for generating electric power while Washington accuses it of secretly developing nuclear weapons.

The diplomat said the Iranian threats had not affected the text, which has been relatively unchanged after being rewritten Monday to take into account strong comments by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei that Iranian cooperation has been "less than satisfactory" and that Tehran must do more so the investigation can be wrapped up in a few months.

Khatami said Iran would feel "no moral obligation" to keep honoring its suspension of uranium enrichment, or to allow tougher IAEA inspections, if the agency criticizes Iran, which has worked with the IAEA since inspections began in February 2003.

In Vienna, the US ambassador to the IAEA, Kenneth Brill, described the threats as intimidation and said they suggested Iran has something to hide.

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