New sanctions against Iran would only aggravate the dispute rather than push it to give in to international demands, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told Austrian daily Die Presse.

"Of course you can impose further sanctions. But I consider it rather unlikely that new sanctions will make Iran come around," ElBaradei said in an interview to be published on October 18.

Iran won itself a reprieve from the threat of harsher UN sanctions by engaging six world powers in high-level talks on October 1 in Geneva that opened the door to detente over its nuclear program after a seven-year standoff.

Iran says its nuclear program is for producing electricity. Western powers fear Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons.

ElBaradei said he was optimistic that follow-up talks in Vienna next week to finalize an agreement with Iran on processing its uranium abroad could open the door to broader talks about Iran's nuclear programme.