UN Nuclear Agency Chief Flies to Iran

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, flew to Iran last night to try to avert an international crisis over Tehran's alleged programme to build a nuclear bomb.

Dr ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had not planned to visit the country ahead of the October 31 deadline for it to hand over all documents relating to the suspected nuclear sites.

On his way to Iran, he told journalists it had not yet provided all the necessary information, and warned it could not expect an extension of the deadline.

"I think we need all the information that we requested, and so far we have not received all this information," Dr ElBaradei said. "The key issue is the enrichment programme - to make sure we have seen all nuclear experiments that have taken place in Iran; that we have seen all the nuclear material in Iran."

He offered one glimmer of hope by revealing that Tehran had complied with an IAEA request to visit Kolahdouz, a military site not far from the capital. "We asked and we were allowed to go there," Dr ElBaradei said.

Earlier this week an Iranian dissident group claimed the country was secretly developing a site to test centrifuges to produce weapons-grade uranium. The National Council of Resistance of Iran said a plant near Isfahan, in central Iran, was designed to run and test up to 180 centrifuges, which had yet to be installed.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely for civil purposes, but the British, US and other governments claim the evidence to the contrary is compelling and are gearing up for a protracted diplomatic confrontation.

The IAEA will meet on November 20 to discuss the response to the October deadline, and is likely to refer the issue to the UN security council. But Western diplomats said this would not automatically mean economic sanctions against Iran.

Behind the scenes, the British government is pessimistic. It believes that Iran, on balance, is more likely than not to build a nuclear bomb. A Foreign Office source said: "There is a 70% chance that Iran will opt to complete this [nuclear programme]."

In spite of hints that either the US or Israel would make pre-emptive strikes rather than allow Iran to construct nuclear weapons, the government wants to play down expectations that a re-run of the Iraq war is imminent.

It believes that Iran would not be able to complete a bomb for several years. In the meantime, while making its opposition to the programme clear, the government hopes to give Iran the opportunity to back down without losing face. The hope is that Tehran, anxious to attract outside investment, will put economic interests ahead of concerns about military vulnerability.

Unlike the situation with Iraq, France and Germany have fallen into line with the US and Britain on this issue. At a meeting of European Union ministers a fortnight ago, the talk was tough. "It was as if US hawks like [Paul] Wolfowitz and [Richard] Perle had arrived in Brussels," said one diplomat who was present.

A senior German government source has since said that the EU foreign ministers were concerned that "were Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb, this might trigger an arms race across the entire region". "We share the preoccupation that a nuclear race in the Middle East would be the worst thing you could imagine," he said. "This would not be acceptable."

Some bellicose statements by the US are regarded as counter-productive by European governments, who see them as encouraging paranoia in Tehran.

John McHugh, one of five US congressmen passing through London yesterday from Iraq, said that, "of course" the US did not want to commit itself militarily, but that this was "clearly an option".

Mr McHugh, a Republican on the House armed forces committee, said America's strategy was to encourage Iran to behave responsibly.

The Commons foreign affairs committee announced yesterday that it is to visit Iran on Saturday.