The White House insisted on Thursday that there is still "time and space" to resolve Iran's controversial nuclear issue diplomatically, as a new report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog came out pointing to the Islamic republic's doubled ability to enrich uranium.

"The window of opportunity to resolve this diplomatically remains open, but it will not remain open indefinitely," White House spokesman Jay Carney said, in direct response to the report unveiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier in the day alleging Iran has doubled the number of centrifuges to 2,140 to enrich uranium at its Fordo nuclear facility.

"You know, we're closely studying the details of the report. But broadly speaking, it is not surprising that Iran is continuing to violate its obligations," Carney told reporters at a regular news briefing.

"As the report illustrates, we're in a position to closely observe Iran's program and to detect any effort by Iran to begin production of weapons grade uranium," he added.

Senior Israeli officials have warned time and again of preemptive military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, a scenario Washington has sought to avoid at least before the presidential election on November 6.

"Our position has been that there is time and space, as I just reiterated, to resolve this diplomatically," Carney said in response to a possible Israeli attack.

"And as I just said, we have the ability to see clearly, have eyes on developments in the Iranian nuclear program," he added. " And as I've said in the past, we would know if they made a breakout move towards building a nuclear weapon."

He again called on Iran to comply with its international nuclear obligations, warning of "growing consequences" for noncompliance.

The last report released by the IAEA on Nov. 8 last year outlined alleged activities pointing to clandestine nuclear bombs making by Iran and prompted expanded sanctions on the country by Washington and its allies.

Addressing the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran on Thursday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated that his country has no interest in developing nuclear weapons but will keep pursuing its right to the "peaceful" use of nuclear energy.

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who was in Iran's capital for the event, urged Khamenei late Wednesday to take concrete steps to prove the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.

Iran has held three rounds of talks with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany over its uranium enrichment program since mid-April at the expert level.

The UN Security Council imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran between 2006 and 2010 over its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which Western countries suspect could be used to develop nuclear weapons.

The United States and the European Union have imposed extra sanctions of their own and continued to expand them over the years to cover lately Iran's oil exports, the lifeline for the country's economy.