However, 3,716 additional centrifuges have been installed which Iran is planning to use for enrichment as well in the future.

While Tehran says it is enriching uranium to fuel its unfinished power plant in Busher, the UN Security Council has passed sanctions to pressure the country to halt producing material that could also be used to make nuclear weapons if processed further.

Along with Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, the US has offered Iran a package of economic and political incentives in return for concessions on its nuclear programme.

The Western countries among this group are considering pushing for additional sanctions if no positive signal is forthcoming from Tehran.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the international community would consider placing restrictions on the Iranian energy sector, including its fuel imports.

The IAEA also issued a report on Syria, which ElBaradei said was not fully cooperating in clearing up questions about a possible secret nuclear reactor that was bombed by Israel in 2007.

Damascus claims it cannot give the Vienna-based inspectors additional access because the al-Kibar site was a conventional military installation.

But ElBaradei wrote that this argument was not valid under Syria's wide-ranging inspection agreement with his organisation, as it does not limit 'agency access to information, activities or locations simply because they may be military-related.'

Damascus has allowed the IAEA to sample some additional nuclear materials in the country which are currently being analysed.

The US has provided the nuclear agency with intelligence concerning the al-Kibar site and has said the secret reactor there was nearly completed when it was bombed.