Vienna - Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gathered Monday in Vienna to discuss Iran's nuclear programme, as well as allegations of a secret nuclear site in Syria.

The 35 countries on the IAEA board of governors were also set to press ahead with the process to elect a successor to the agency's Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, who steps down in November after his third term in office ends.

Last week, ElBaradei issued his latest report on Iran, which showed that the country has stopped answering questions about past alleged studies that could have been related to nuclear weapons.

ElBaradei also reported to IAEA members and the UN Security Council that Iran now has 1,010 kilogrammes of low-enriched uranium, which some experts say is theoretically enough to build a nuclear weapon in a series of further steps.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday dismissed as "baseless" remarks by the United States military Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen that Iran had enough fissile material for a bomb.

But diplomats said while the US was still in the process of reviewing its foreign policies, they would not issue resolutions on Iran or Syria at the IAEA meeting.

Last June, IAEA inspectors found man-made uranium at a Syrian site bombed by Israel in 2007. So far, Syria has not allowed further visits to the alleged nuclear reactor site, claiming it was a conventional military installation.

Later this week, IAEA board members are expected to determine the voting date for the candidates to succeed ElBaradei - Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano and South African diplomat Abdul Samad Minty. (dpa)