IAEA: Iran 3-8 years from atomic weapons

The head of the U.N. nuclear agency said Thursday he agreed with CIA estimates that Iran was three to eight years from being able to make nuclear weapons and he urged the U.S. and other powers to pursue talks with the Islamic country.

The best way to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear arms is "through a comprehensive dialogue," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference in Luxembourg. "One way to do that, rather than to continue the rhetoric, is to ... sit down together."

On Wednesday, the IAEA reported that Iran's uranium enrichment program was expanding in defiance of U.N. demands that it be suspended, findings that could lead to new sanctions against the country.

The report also warned that the IAEA's knowledge of those activities was shrinking.

"We are moving toward Iran building (nuclear) capacity and knowledge, without (the IAEA) in a position to verify the nature or scope of that program," ElBaradei said.

ElBaradei would not offer his own view of when Iran would be able to produce nuclear weapons. But he added, "I tend to agree with (CIA estimates) that even if Iran wanted to go to nuclear weapons it would not be before the end of this decade or sometime in the middle of the next" — three to eight years.

Iran insists it has no intention of pursuing nuclear weapons — as the U.S. and its allies fear — saying its program is only for producing an alternative source of energy.

Pushed by the United States, France and Britain, the U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions twice against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce both fuel for a reactor and the material for a nuclear warhead.

ElBaradei said the United States should take "inspiration" from negotiations that have recently defused the crisis over North Korea's nuclear activities — even though the North has yet to fulfill its pledge to scrap its weapons program.

ElBaradei attended a conference of about 60 nuclear arms technology experts from a dozen nations, including the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and Sweden.

In an opening address, ElBaradei said the U.N. needs a far more "agile and systematic approach for responding to cases of (nuclear) proliferation."

He said the acquisition of nuclear arms technology by India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea showed the current shortcomings.

Monitoring compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty must be "drastically reformed," he said, adding that he will propose a set of changes in the next few weeks.

One idea is the creation of an international nuclear "fuel bank," which would eliminate any reason for countries seeking a peaceful nuclear program to enrich uranium themselves.

The emphasis on containing enrichment has gained prominence because of the concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions. The IAEA started investigating Iran's program after revelations that the country for nearly two decades had been clandestinely developing enrichment and other nuclear activities that could be used to make weapons.

Iraq for Sale Banned Excerpts

Iran accuses US over seized diplomat

Gunmen wearing Iraqi uniforms seized an Iranian diplomat in central Baghdad at the weekend, the government in Tehran said today, blaming the kidnapping on troops acting on US orders.

Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian embassy, was seized on Sunday by forces operating "under the supervision of the American forces in Iraq", an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns this aggressive act, which is in violation of international law," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

"Iran holds American forces in Iraq responsible for the safety and life of the Iranian diplomat."

However, a US military spokesman denied that any of the country's troops, or Iraqis reporting to them, had been involved and said he could not even confirm that the incident had taken place.

"We've checked with our units and it was not an MNF-I [Multi-National Forces - Iraq] unit that participated in that event," Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said.

The incident threatens to further escalate tensions between the US and Iran. Washington accuses Tehran of providing significant support to Shia militants fighting US forces in Iraq - an accusation it vehemently denies.

Last month, US forces detained five Iranians in northern Iraq, accusing them of having links to an Iranian military faction blamed for funding and arming Iraqi militants. Iran insisted they were diplomats and should be released.

An official at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad said Mr Sharafi had been travelling to check on the planned opening of an Iranian bank in the central Karradah area of Baghdad when he was seized by men wearing Iraqi army uniforms.

An Iraqi government official said Iraqi soldiers in two vehicles intercepted the diplomat's car, put him in one of their vehicles and drove off.

Iraqi police, apparently suspecting a kidnap attempt, opened fire on the second vehicle and detained the occupants, who were released into Iraqi military custody yesterday.

According to the Iraqi official, the detained troops were part of an army unit that receives direct orders from the US military.

A US embassy spokesman in Baghdad said he could not confirm the reports. "There appear to be conflicting accounts of this alleged incident, and we are in the process of trying to determine the facts," he added.

The White House has also authorised US troops in Iraq to kill or capture Iranian agents deemed to be a threat.

It claimed there was growing evidence that Iran was supporting terrorists inside Iraq and was a major supplier of bombs and other weapons used to target US forces.