IAEA: Iran no immediate danger

2007-10-22 15:59

Paris - Iran would need "between three and eight years" to develop an atomic bomb and constitutes no immediate danger, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in an interview published on Monday.

"I want to get people away from the idea that Iran represents a clear and present danger and that we're now facing the decision whether to bombard Iran or let them have the bomb. We're not in that situation at all," the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency told the French daily Le Monde.

"I can't judge whether Iran intends to develop a nuclear bomb. It would need between three and eight years to do so. All intelligence services are agreed on that," said ElBaradei.

'Carrots' and 'sticks'

The IAEA chief continued: "We still have a lot of time to use diplomatic tools, including sanctions, dialogue, all the 'carrots' and 'sticks' we have at our disposal."

Last week, US President George W Bush evoked the possibility of World War III if the international community were to stand by and let Iran develop a nuclear bomb.

"If you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (the Iranians) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," Bush had said.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney, in his turn, said on Sunday that the United States would not permit Iran to get nuclear weapons and warned of "serious consequences" if Tehran refused to stop enriching uranium.

- AFP