Iran moved to eliminate its most sensitive stockpile of enriched uranium gas under an interim nuclear deal with six world powers reached last year, according to a monthly UN nuclear watchdog update obtained by Reuters yesterday.

The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed that Iran had met the terms of the six-month agreement, which had been due to expire yesterday but which will be extended with some adjustments, after Iran and the six powers failed to meet the July 20 deadline for a comprehensive agreement to end the decade-old nuclear standoff and agreed to continue talking.

The extension underlines the difficulties negotiators face in settling the dispute permanently even if Iran has met its commitments under the preliminary agreement, as yesterday’s IAEA report suggests.

Under the November 24 accord, designed to buy time for talks on a long-term settlement of the dispute, Iran halted the most controversial aspect of its nuclear programme – enrichment of uranium gas to a fissile concentration of 20 per cent.

It also undertook to dilute or convert to oxide its remaining stockpile of the material during the half-year period, which Sunday’s IAEA report showed it had now completed.