Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) outlined on Monday the important step made by Iran last month towards ending the controversy sparked by its nuclear program.

ElBaradei opened the meeting of IAEA’s Board of Governors with a speech in which he remarked Tehran’s cooperation with the agency, but stressed this is just the first phase in a complex process.

The Egyptian diplomat said core issues can be handled by the end of the year, only if Iranian officials follow the framework established with IAEA representatives in a “fully and timely manner.”

He added Iran has to adopt a different stance and convince the international community of its intentions. ElBaradei referred to the hard-line stance adopted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said the UN Security Council’s demands will not intimidate the Iranian nation and the uranium enrichment program will continue as planned.

Last month, Iran agreed to brush off any doubt covering its nuclear program and cooperate with IAEA inspectors in establishing a full report on past actions undertaken in the nuclear sector.

Some of the board’s members said present and future activities are more important and the work plan should include sturdier targets for Iran. Germany's ambassador Peter Gottwald hoped Iran will stick by its commitments and fully cooperate with the IAEA in the future.

The work plan was met with the same reluctance by United States Ambassador Gregory Schulte, who said at the current stage it’s an “potentially important process,” but it remains to be seen whether Iran will continue to collaborate with the UN nuclear watchdog on other stressful issues.

ElBaradei reiterated that uranium enrichment activities should be stopped and the UN Security Council must refrain from dictating more sanctions. This “double time-out” would allow negotiations to continue at a normal pace and a consensus will certainly appear in those circumstances.

Iran previously announced it has more than 3,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges operational and will continue to set up other sets of centrifuges weekly, regardless of new sanctions imposed by the Security Council.

During Monday’s meeting, board members will also discuss the final stages of North Korea’s nuclear shutdown, security of nuclear facilities and the report filled on the nuclear leaks reportedly occurred after strong earthquake at the Japanese Kashiwarzaki-Karwia nuclear power plant.