The Iranian government approved a plan Sunday to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion in defiance of U.N. demands it halt the program.

India on Friday joined the US, Russia, China and others at the IAEA in censuring Iran over its nuclear programme and asked the Islamic nation to stop uranium enrichment and allow international verification.

The majority of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency has voted to censure Iran for its nuclear defiance.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates, seeking to soothe Mideast allies worried about Tehran's reach, said on Sunday that efforts to bolster US relations with Iran may still ultimately face what he called "a closed fist."

Iran's president said on Wednesday that he is willing to forget the past and build a new relationship with the United States, adding that he is preparing a new package of proposals aimed at breaking the impasse with the West over his country's nuclear program.