US fears Iran nearing capacity for atomic bomb

Iran may have enough nuclear material to put together an atomic bomb, the United States said yesterday, as Tehran submitted proposals to resolve the international standoff.

While the head of the UN nuclear watchdog sought to downplay fears over Iran's nuclear programme, the US envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran's enrichment drive was moving closer to "breakout capacity".

The White House added to the pressure on Iran, saying President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government must show progress towards ending its "illicit" nuclear activities.

Iran has dominated an IAEA board meeting in Vienna which heard for the first time yesterday from Glyn Davies, Washington's new ambassador to the agency.

"Iran is now either very near or in possession already of sufficient low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon, if the decision were made to further enrich it to weapons-grade," said Mr Davies.

"This ongoing enrichment activity, prohibited by three UN Security Council resolutions, moves Iran closer to a dangerous and destabilising possible breakout capacity," the US envoy told IAEA governors.

"Taken in connection with Iran's refusal to engage with the IAEA regarding its past nuclear warhead-related work, we have serious concerns that Iran is deliberately attempting, at a minimum, to preserve a nuclear weapons option," Mr Davies said.

But IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who last week alleged the Iranian threat had been "hyped", said there was no need to panic.

"We have serious concerns but we're not in a state of panic, because we haven't seen diversion of nuclear material and we haven't seen components of nuclear weapons," said the Egyptian official, who stands down in November.

Even if it now possesses sufficient quantities of enriched uranium to begin the process of making a bomb, there is still scepticism whether Iran has the know-how to turn it into weapons-grade material, analysts said.

In its latest report on Iran, the IAEA ascertained that Iran had at least 1,430 kilograms of low-enriched uranium. Estimates vary, but analysts calculate that anywhere between 1,000 and 1,700 kilograms of enriched uranium would be needed to convert it into highly-enriched uranium suitable to make a single bomb.

The Islamic republic has consistently refused to cease its enrichment activities, in direct defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

Western governments and Israel have accused Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under cover of its civilian programme. World powers have threatened to impose a fourth set of UN sanctions if Tehran fails to hold talks by late September.

While Iran says its has non-negotiable nuclear "rights", it says it is willing to hold talks with international players.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki yesterday handed over a new package of proposals to envoys of six world powers at the foreign ministry in Tehran. Iran's envoy at the IAEA said the new proposals were "a window of opportunity for those who are ready to enter into real negotiations on the basis of mutual respect".

Iran's ambassador to the European Union also handed a copy to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. An EU spokesman declined to discuss its content but said "it's being analysed".