Iran pushes to blunt UN nuke agency powers

VIENNA (AP) -- Iran is urging member countries to dilute the clout of Western nations at the U.N. nuclear agency that fears it may be trying to make atomic arms. Instead, it wants its allies to have more authority.

The bid is outlined in a document submitted for the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference next month. It appears to be part of Tehran's efforts to weaken IAEA attempts to follow up suspicions it has experimented with components of a nuclear weapons program.

Iran denies such allegations and says it is enriching uranium -- which could be used to arm nuclear warheads -- only to make reactor fuel, medical isotopes and for research. But it has refused foreign offers of reactor fuel and is blocking IAEA attempts to investigate the weapons allegations.