Vienna - The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei on Thursday welcomed the agreement between the United States and Russia to draw up a new deal on nuclear disarmament.

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev pledged after a meeting in London on Wednesday to pursue additional reductions of their nuclear arsenals, by building on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) arms limitation programme.

The agreement "demonstrates leadership and finally moves us beyond the Cold War mentality," ElBaradei said in a statement released in Vienna.

Together with additional bilateral commitments outlined in London, such as bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force, the plan would help to get more countries to adhere to the IAEA's nuclear inspection regimes, ElBaradei said.

Obama and Medvedev on Wednesday called on Iran to restore confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme by cooperating with the IAEA, which has been seeking additional information.

Under the START programme, in place since the early 1990s and due to expire at the end of this year, the US and Russia agreed to a strategic arsenal of no more than
6,000 warheads and 1,600 carrier missiles. (dpa)