(RSD) -- In what could be his final report on global nuclear activity, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei said that efforts to curb nuclear proliferation were in "tatters" and that Iran's nuclear push is a more of an attempt to gain political power in the Middle East than to actually develop nuclear weapons.

ElBaradei spoke Wednesday at a Council on Foreign Relations. ElBaradei is leaving Dec. 1 after 12 years as director of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"We have no indication, no complete proof, that Iran has an ongoing nuclear weapons program," ElBaradei said. "Iran's program is an effort to force recognition of its role as a regional power. In my view Iran's nuclear program is a means to an end. It wants to be recognized as a regional power. They believe the nuclear know-how brings prestige, brings power and they would like to see the U.S. engaging them." 

"Unfortunately that holds some truth," ElBaradei was quoted by Reuters as saying, adding that "Iran has been taken seriously since they have developed their program."

"Iran could be the door to a stable Middle East," ElBaradei was quoted by the Iranian Labour News Agency as saying. ""I think it's very clear if we succeed on that, it would open the way, finally, to a new era, when Iran and the US ... can work together." According to that article, ElBaradei specifically listed Iraq and Afghanistan as two areas where Iran could play a very constructive role where there is "a unique opportunity. I see it (for) the first time ... , a genuine desire on both sides to seriously engage."

According to ILNA, ElBaradei said he was convinced the Iranians were prepared at one point to stop their enrichment program but that the previous US administration and the European powers missed an opportunity to end the standoff by imposing conditions on Iran that were "impossible to accept".

"They were ready to stop at an R&D (research and development) level ... that could have not have created any concern for the international community," ElBaradei said.

But Reuters also noted that some "Western diplomats who follow the Iranian issue say that it is doubtful Iran would choose to hover on the threshold of the nuclear club without entering the door. A more likely scenario, they argue, is that the Islamic Republic would secure its place at the table of world powers by developing and possibly even testing a nuclear device. They also say the impact on the Middle East would be the same whether Iran has the 'break-out option' in the drawer or a live bomb in its basement. In either case the result would be a nuclear weapons race across the already unstable Middle East."

The IAEA chief acknowledged Israel's concerns about a nuclear armed Iran or any other hostile country, but he said there are two sides to the story.  

"If you look from the Arab side of the view, the Arabs are as concerned if not more about the Israeli perceived nuclear weapon program as Israeli is perceived about the Arabs," he said, according to VOA. "You cannot sit and expect the rest of the Arab world is comfortable reading every day that Israel has 200 nuclear weapons."

The Wall Street Journal quoted ElBaradei as saying that any military action against Iran would solve nothing, since Tehran would engage in a crash program and "you cannot bomb knowledge.'' If Iran was attacked, "Every Iranian, even in Los Angeles" would support the nuclear program, he said, as would its allies.

If that were to happen it "would turn the Middle East into a ball of fire," he said.


Source: Various wire agencies