Iran deal with IAEA has "limitations" - US envoy

VIENNA, Aug 22 (Reuters) - A nuclear cooperation pact Iran struck with the International Atomic Energy Agency has ''real limitations'' and Tehran should stop trying to manipulate UN inspectors, a senior US official said today.

''Of course, we welcome any progress in resolving troubling questions about Iran's nuclear activities,'' Gregory Schulte, US ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog, said of yesterday's deal announced in Tehran and hailed by the chief IAEA negotiator as ''a milestone''.

''But we understand there are real limitations with the plan, including Iran's continued refusal to implement the IAEA's Additional Protocol,'' Schulte told reporters by conference call in Vienna, headquarters of the IAEA.

He was referring to a measure allowing inspectors to check at sites not declared to be nuclear but seen as important to resolving longstanding questions about the scope and nature of Iranian nuclear activity.

Schulte also said Iran's condition that it would not implement the transparency plan unless the UN Security Council shelved steps to increase sanctions on Tehran was unacceptable.

This was because Iran was still pressing ahead with enriching uranium for nuclear fuel despite several Security Council resolutions demanding it stop.

Western powers suspect Iran's declared goal to refine uranium for electricity is really a cover for mastering the means to assemble nuclear weapons, and its refusal to suspend the programme has led to two sets of UN sanctions against it.

''Cooperation that is partial, conditional, and only promised in the future is not enough. Cooperation that allows Iran to proceed developing the capacity to build nuclear weapons is also not enough,'' Schulte said.

''If Iran's leaders truly want the world's trust, they would stop trying to manipulate the IAEA, start to cooperate fully and unconditionally, and suspend activities of international concern.'' In Tehran, IAEA negotiators said Iran had agreed to a timetable for implementing the plan, designed to resolve questions about the murky extent of Iranian nuclear work and improve inspector access to its underground enrichment plant.

Details of the deal were expected to be included in a report for the IAEA board by early September.

REUTERS AK KP1433