A new report by the UN atomic watchdog validates Iran's progress in its "peaceful" nuclear activities despite international sanctions, the country's envoy to the agency said on Thursday. The International Atomic Energy Agency's report said Iran had accelerated the installation of advanced uranium enrichment equipment at its central Natanz plant, and was potentially opening up a second route to developing the bomb. Ali Asghar Soltanieh, speaking to Fars news agency in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, said the report was proof of Iran's "technical and scientific success".

By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Metals swap deals with Iran by Switzerland-based commodities giants Glencore Xstrata and Trafigura could have been a way of skirting international sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, according to a confidential U.N. Panel of Experts report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - A new push to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions by crippling the country's economy gathered momentum on Capitol Hill Wednesday with approval of legislation by the House Foreign Affairs Committee that would impose even tougher economic sanctions against Tehran. And the Senate resolved that the United States should support Israel if it is forced to take military action to defend itself from an Iranian nuclear threat.

By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is pressing ahead with the construction of a research reactor that Western experts say could eventually produce plutonium for a nuclear weapon if Tehran decides to make one, a U.N. report showed on Wednesday. In another development likely to worry the United States and its allies, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had added to its capacity to refine uranium, which can also provide the fissile core of a bomb if enriched to a high level.