Al Baradei: Bombs cannot bring security

Luxembourg: Iran could develop a nuclear weapon in three to eight years, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad Al Baradei said on Thursday.

Speaking at an anti-proliferation conference in Luxembourg, he also warned the West against using military action to stop countries becoming nuclear powers, saying, "We cannot bomb our way to security."

President George W. Bush said the United States and its European allies would seek "to strengthen our sanction regime" against Iran's defiance of UN demands to suspend its nuclear programme, while Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again dismissed the threats.

Al Baradei said it was difficult to say exactly how far Iran was from developing a nuclear weapon, if it wanted to, but added that he agreed with US assessments that it could happen in the next decade.

He said, "In other words three to eight years from now," adding, "We are moving toward Iran building capacity without the agency in a position to be able to verify the nature or the scope of that programme. If we continue in that direction, we will end up with a major confrontation," he said.