The comments by Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, followed remarks by US President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney earlier this month, in which they raised the possibility of military action in response to Tehran's alleged nuclear ambitions.

Bush told NBC News he "will never take any option off the table" when asked whether his administration was willing to consider a military solution if Iran continued to stonewall the international community about its suspected nuclear weapons program.

Cheney, appearing on a popular radio show three days later, suggested Israel might strike to shut down the country's clandestine nuclear facilities "without being asked."

The somber backdrop for the rhetoric was provided by award-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, who wrote in The New Yorker magazine that US commandos have been already operating inside Iran since mid-2004 selecting suspected weapons sites for possible air strikes.

But ElBaradei argued continued dialogue was the best tool for addressing concerns about Iran's nuclear program, which the Islamic government insists is purely peaceful.

"Talk about military activities at this stage is very unhelpful," the IAEA head said in a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post newspaper and Newsweek magazine. "I cannot see how a military solution can resolve the Iran issue."

He said Iran had the know-how for building nuclear weapons and was likely to take its program underground in case of strikes against its nuclear facilities.

If Tehran resumed its fuel cycle -- now frozen under an agreement with European nations -- it would be able to produce fissile material within two years and a weapon a year after that, according to ElBaradei.

"I'd like to see the Americans join a dialogue either with the Europeans or directly with the Iranians," he said. "I don't think you will get a permanent solution of the Iranian issue without full US engagement. The US can't afford to sit on the fence."

ElBaradei also pointed to the need of addressing Iran's "sense of isolation" and insecurity after 20 years of economic sanctions against its Islamic government.

He reiterated his earlier proposal to give countries that need nuclear energy for peaceful purposes all necessary technology in exchange for placing their programs under international control to make sure that spent radioactive fuel was not being misused.

"Any country which has a complete fuel cycle is a latent nuclear weapons country in the sense that it is not far from making a nuclear weapon," said the IAEA head.

US grumbling notwithstanding, ElBaradei, 62, reaffirmed his firm determination to run for a third term in office before his second term expires in November.

While not opposing ElBaradei's candidacy openly, US officials have said repeatedly they favor a two-term limit for IAEA directors.

The position was interpreted by some as a US payback to ElBaradei, who openly questioned US allegations that Iraq was hiding an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the March 2003 US-lead invasion of the country.

No chemical, biological or nuclear weapons were found in Iraq following the attack, and the search for them was quietly dropped last December.

ElBaradei refused to openly speculate about US motives, but said: "Someone told me it is dangerous to be wrong but even more dangerous to be right."

In a setback for Washington, no country has so far proposed an alternative to ElBaradei.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.