VIENNA (AP) -- Most participants at a 35-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency have agreed to put off until Thursday a decision on whether to help Iran build a nuclear reactor.

Diplomats said on Wednesday all participants in a committee meeting at the agency, which is the United Nations' nuclear monitor, said a tentative agreement has been reached for approval of Tehran's requests for agency aid on seven other nuclear projects.

The decision would be made formally Thursday, after the committee, which is looking at hundreds of requests for technical aid from member countries, completes its work and a full board meeting begins.

The diplomats emphasized that the agreement was tentative, but said it represented the most likely resolution of differences, not just between nonaligned nations, which traditionally support Iran, and the United States and its backers, but also within the Western camp itself.

Before the closed committee meeting adjourned Tuesday, Iran's chief delegate, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, criticized nations that opposed aid for Arak, accusing them of "imposing their politically motivated and discriminatory policies" on the meeting.

The agency routinely approves hundreds of technical aid projects each year, most of them dealing with nuclear medicine, agricultural pest prevention and similar programs that have no obvious link to atomic arms. Iran says the reactor will produce nuclear isotopes for medical use.

The assistance being sought in connection with Arak is in making sure the reactor is environmentally safe. Denying that help would do little to slow construction of the facility.