The United States said Monday that Iran had an "opportunity" before next week's UN nuclear watchdog agency meeting to convince the West that it does not seek atomic weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meets March 6 to vote on whether to refer the Iranian nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, which has the power to introduce sanctions on Iran over the nuclear issue.
"We've said that during this time the regime in Iran has an opportunity to change their ways and change their behavior when it comes to the nuclear program," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
"The international community remains concerned about the regime's behavior and about their intentions when it comes to their nuclear program. That's why the matter has been reported to the United Nations Security Council," he said.
His comments came as the International Atomic Energy Agence (IAEA) reported that Iran is planning to set up 3,000 centrifuges as it moves towards industrial-scale uranium enrichment in defiance of Western fears that this could be used to make nuclear weapons.
The confidential IAEA report is to be crucial in the UN Security Council's deciding whether to take punitive action against Iran over a nuclear program which the United States claims hides covert development of atomic bombs.
The IAEA has called on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment work.
But Iran is pushing ahead and on February 15 fed a 10-centrifuge research cascade at a facility in Natanz with the uranium gas that is processed into enriched uranium, which can also be used as fuel for nuclear power reactors.
