Carney:Iran nuclear report will echo US concerns

A U.N. agency report this week is expected to "echo and reinforce" U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear program and Washington will work to increase pressure on Tehran to abandon any atomic weapons ambitions, the White House said on Monday.

White House spokesman Jay Carney downplayed questions about the possibility of military action targeting Iran's nuclear program and said the United States was focused on continued diplomacy to convince Tehran to meet international obligations.

 "You can be sure that we will continue to work to pressure Iran, to isolate Iran," Carney told a White House briefing. "And we know from our own analysis as well as what the president of Iran recently said that those efforts are having an impact." The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, is expected to release a report this week that will detail research in Iran possibly geared toward developing nuclear weapons, adding fuel to Western concerns about a program Tehran says is for energy production.

"We certainly expect it to echo and reinforce what we've been saying about Iran's behaviour and its failure to live up to its international obligations," Carney said. "It will, I'm sure, echo our concern about Iran's nuclear program." Diplomats have said the IAEA report will shed light on highly technical and complex scientific work in Iran that could be related to producing nuclear weapons, but it is not likely to reveal "smoking gun" proof of an intent to make arms.

The report is expected to include fresh evidence of research and other activities with no ready explanation other than weapons work, including studies linked to the development of an atomic bomb trigger and computer modeling of a nuclear weapon.