Nuclear dispute moving toward resolution: Iran

Iran's top nuclear negotiator said on Tuesday that international concerns about its nuclear programme were close to being resolved - but US officials promptly denied this.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful power generation and has pledged to give a full account of its activities ahead of a June meeting of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog in Vienna.
"We believe Iran's nuclear file is moving in the direction of being resolved," Hassan Rohani, secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council told state television.
"From our point of view we have co-operated fully on this issue. We hope (IAEA chief Mohamed) ElBaradei and the agency provide a fair and exact report for the June meeting and the board of governors reaches a fair and exact decision."
ElBaradei recently warned Tehran that the world would not wait forever for it to divulge the full extent and nature of its nuclear programme.
Iranian officials have said they want the IAEA to drop Iran from its agenda after the meeting - but Washington says Iran is still secretly trying to build atomic weapons.
Western diplomats, pointing to revelations last year that Tehran engaged in an 18-year cover-up of potentially weapons-related atomic research, said doubts about Iran's nuclear ambitions would persist long after the June meeting.
"There has continued to be a pattern of deception...It's too early for us or the Iranians to say this has been resolved," said a State Department official in Washington who asked not to be named.
"There's nothing to suggest that anyone - us or the international community as a whole - is prepared to say 'It's been resolved, let's close the file'."
Rohani said he did not think Israel would attack a nearly completed reactor in the southern port city of Bushehr.
"Israel knows that if such an incident happens, it will face a very strong response from us," he said.
Israeli planes destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in a raid in 1981. Its new US-made F-16I fighters, which began arriving in February, extend its reach over much of Iran.