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03/08/2006:

"Iran and US: Diplomacy or war?"

The US government says it is mulling all its options - including the military one - in response to an IAEA report that Iran has begun enriching uranium on a small scale and is slowly building up its enrichment capabilities.


The IAEA recently stated it "has not seen any [Iranian] diversion of nuclear material to nuclear weapons", a charge made by the Bush administration.

However, the nuclear watchdog says there are many outstanding questions about Iran's nuclear programme that the Islamic republic has yet to answer.

Iran plans to set up 3000 enrichment centrifuges later this year.

With talks to resolve the issue appearing less and less likely, the United States and a European Union troika made up of Britain, France and Germany persuaded the watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to report Iran to the Security Council for action.

The current standoff has led to a spate of media stories suggesting the US and/or Israel might be planning a military strike to disrupt Iranian nuclear facilities.

However, Adam Ereli, a spokesman for the US State Department, told Aljazeera.net that a military move "is not something we're looking at right now".

"What we're looking at is diplomatic action with our partners from the international community to prevent Iran from causing trouble which it intends on doing by supporting terrorism and developing a nuclear weapon."
aljazeera.net