Iran does not pose an immediate nuclear threat and the world must act
cautiously to avoid repeating mistakes made with Iraq and North Korea, the head
of the U.N, nuclear watchdog agency said on Tuesday.
International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed El Baradei briefs the media
during a board of governors meeting in Vienna's U.N. headquarters February
2, 2006. Iran does not pose an immediate nuclear threat and the world must
act cautiously to avoid repeating mistakes made with Iraq and North Korea,
ElBaradei said on Tuesday.[Reuters] |
Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said
the world shouldn't "jump the gun" with erroneous information as he said the
U.S.-led coalition did in Iraq in 2003, nor should it push the country into
retaliation as international sanctions did in North Korea.
"Our assessment is that there is no immediate threat," the winner of the 2005
Nobel Peace Prize told a forum organized by the Monterey Institute of
International Studies south of San Francisco. "We still have lots of time to
investigate."
"You look around in the Middle East right now and it's a total mess," he
said. "You can not add oil to that fire."
The recent violent history in Iraq bears an important lesson for diplomacy
with neighboring Iran, the diplomat said. "We should not jump the gun. We should
be very careful about assessing the information available to us," he said.
The Bush administration led a coalition into Iraq in 2003 saying President
Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were
found.
"I ask myself every day if that's the way we want to go in getting rid of
every single dictator," ElBaradei said.
While it was unclear whether Iran ultimately intended to redirect its
development of nuclear power into a weapons system, it was clear there was no
danger of that right now, he said.
The five U.N. Security Council permanent powers and Germany, trying to curb
Tehran's nuclear program, are planning to meet in Vienna on Thursday to try to
finalize a package of incentives for Iran to halt uranium enrichment along with
penalties if it keeps defying international pressure.
ElBaradei said he believed a majority in the Iranian leadership was still
interested in a negotiated solution and normal relations with the world. The
United States is pressing for tough U.N. sanctions if Iran does not comply.
"It would be terrible" to try to strengthen sanctions, which could force Iran
to retaliate, he said.
"We have learned some lessons from North Korea," he said. "When you push a
country into a corner, you are giving the driver's seat to the hard-liners
there."