Iran getting closer to nuclear weapons - US

Iran may be just a few years away from developing nuclear weapons, US officials have warned.

Senior figures in Washington said a more assertive US policy is needed towards the strategically placed country.

The US administration’s concern over a variety of Iranian weapons programmes has been added to what it says is an expanded Iranian role in support of regional and global terrorist groups.

Towards the end of last year, there were glimmers of hope that the two countries, implacable rivals for more than two decades, could find some common ground on terrorism.

But those hopes have faded in recent weeks as the US concluded that Iran has stepped up its pursuit of a radical Islamic agenda.

President George Bush’s more belligerent anti-Iran stance prompted leaders in Tehran to make anti-Americanism the main theme of demonstrations planned Monday on the 23rd anniversary of the Iranian revolution.

Bush included Iran as a member the ‘‘axis of evil’’ in his State of the Union speech on January 29. He said Iran ‘‘aggressively pursues’’ weapons of mass destruction and ‘‘exports terror,’’ and that ‘‘an unelected few repress the Iranian people’s hope for freedom.’’

CIA Director George Tenet told a Senate hearing that Iran may be able by itself to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon by late this decade.

But he also said this estimate could be cut by years if Iran is able to obtain materials from outside sources.

Just what the US plans to do in response is not clear.

Last week, Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi denied Tehran is seeking weapons of mass destruction and said that it - unlike the US - was adhering to international weapons treaties.

He accused Washington of torpedoing efforts to give teeth to the treaty banning biological weapons and of trying to undermine the Chemical Weapons Convention. He also criticised it for abandoning the nuclear test ban treaty.