The UN atomic watchdog said on Thursday that Iran has not expanded its nuclear facilities in the last three months.

The UN atomic watchdog said on Thursday that Iran has not expanded its nuclear facilities in the last three months.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report that only four new uranium enrichment centrifuges were operating at Iran's Natanz plant and no additional machines at the Fordo facility.

It added that Iran has also not begun operating any new-generation IR-2M centrifuges and that "no... major components" had been installed at a reactor being built at Arak.

"There is absolutely no technical reason for this (freeze)," said a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA's activities in Iran.
"This is clearly a choice," he said on condition of anonymity.

"They haven't introduced uranium to any new centrifuges in the last three months. They have more or less frozen construction of the IR-40, major components are still missing."

The quarterly IAEA report, the first since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office in August, was released ahead of a new round of talks between Iran and world powers in Geneva next week.