Iran N-bomb 3-8 yrs away: UN watchdog

On Wednesday, his organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported Iran’s uranium enrichment programme was expanding and that the agency’s knowledge of those activities was shrinking — a finding that may trigger new UN sanctions.

“We are moving toward Iran building (nuclear) capacity and knowledge, without (the IAEA) in a position to verify the nature or scope of that programme,”ElBaradei told a news conference in Luxembourg.

ElBaradei would not offer his own view of when Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons. But repeating previous comments, 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.”

Pushed by the United States, France and Britain, the UN Security Council has already imposed sanctions twice on Tehran to make it abandon ever more sophisticated nuclear enrichment. The fear is that Iran wants to acquire nuclear arms. Tehran says it seeks to produce nothing more than nuclear energy.

ElBaradei said the international community should pursue a dialogue with Tehran.

“One way to do that, rather than to continue the rhetoric, is to … sit down together,” he said.