U.S. urges 'appropriate action' on Iran's nukes

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The Bush administration, citing the latest U.N. report on Iran's nuclear program, said yesterday it would prod other nations to take "appropriate action" against Iran's ability to make nuclear weapons.

"Iran's nuclear-weapons program and its now well-documented pattern of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguard violations are deeply troubling," said a senior State Department official. "The report reinforces our concerns."

"The United States will work with other IAEA board members to ensure that the Nov. 20 board meeting in Vienna takes the appropriate action," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The comments came a week before a crucial session of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is to decide whether to refer Iran's nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council.

"Iran has no peaceful need for uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing," the official said.

The IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear monitoring agency, circulated a new report on Monday that concluded Iran had made small amounts of enriched uranium and processed plutonium, in violation of international conventions.

Uranium or plutonium can be used to build atomic bombs.

The report also detailed decades of Iranian subterfuge and secrecy regarding its program. However, the report found no evidence that Iran was trying to build nuclear weapons.

Michael Levi, a physicist and nuclear-weapons expert at the Brookings Institution, said the IAEA finding that there is no evidence of an Iranian weapons program is a "red herring."