The head of the UN nuclear watchdog welcomed yeterday a delay in adopting a UN Security Council resolution threatening sanctions against Iran, calling for compromise over the country's nuclear program.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that he was pleased the UN Security Council was holding off from imposing sanctions on Iran should it refuse to suspend its nuclear enrichment program.

"It is very good that the Security Council holds its horses," he told reporters as he arrived in the Netherlands to collect an award.

Key Security Council members agreed earlier this week to postpone a resolution that would have delivered an ultimatum to Iran, giving it another two weeks to reevaluate its position on its nuclear program.

"We need compromises from both sides, I hope people will adopt a cool-headed approach," ElBaradei said.

The IAEA chief said Iran "owes it to the international community" to make sure that its program is "exclusively for peaceful purposes."

Washington agreed this week to first let its European allies work out a proposal on benefits for Iran to induce it to curb its nuclear ambitions.

Iran says it only wants to produce low-grade enriched uranium to use in atomic power reactors and that any proposals should allow it to enrich uranium for atomic research and development purposes.

"In any new proposal or package, including the EU's future proposal, suspending Iran's basic rights, including suspension of enrichment at the level of research and development, is unacceptable," Hossein Entezami, spokesman for the Supreme National Security Council, told Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency.

He said that while Iran had not yet received any new proposals,any suggestions "could be reviewed and discussed."

During a visit to Indonesia, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said Iran was "ready to engage in dialogue with anybody."

In an interview broadcast on Indonesia's Metro television, Ahmadinejad said his country's nuclear program "has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, or military purposes."

It was "ridiculous" for countries with nuclear arsenals of their own to be pressing Iran to curb its effort to develop nuclear energy, said the president.