British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw welcomed on Friday a UN nuclear agency's report that Iran has failed to comply with a UN Security Council deadline to halt uranium enrichment.

Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported that Iran has defied UN Security Council demands by refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

The report also said there had been little progress since a previous assessment and "gaps remain in the agency's knowledge with respect to the scope and content of Iran's centrifuge program. "

Straw said, in a statement, "It is very serious that the Iranian regime has failed fully to co-operate with the IAEA and the United Nations Security Council."

"Iran should instead have moved to restore international confidence in its nuclear intentions by resuming full suspension of its enrichment related and reprocessing activities and implementing the Additional Protocol," he said.

"We will now be asking the Security Council to increase the pressure on Iran so that the international community can be assured that its nuclear program is not a threat to peace and security," he added.

But Iran insisted on Friday that the IAEA report on its nuclear program contained "no negative points" and argued the issue should not be taken up by the UN Security Council.

Source: Xinhua