Iran may want to follow the example of North Korea by developing nuclear weapons secretly while promising to pursue atomic energy for purely peaceful purposes, a senior US official said on Tuesday. US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker said Iran was more like North Korea, which expelled UN nuclear inspectors almost two years ago and Washington believes has up to nine warheads, than Libya, which voluntarily abandoned its nuclear arms programme in December 2003.
"Iran is a lot more like North Korea than like Libya," Rademaker said in answer to reporters' questions during a briefing at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
"We do not expect Iran to comply over the long-term with any commitment not to develop nuclear weapons."
Iran vehemently denies US accusations that it is using a civilian nuclear programme as a cover to pursue nuclear weapons. It says it wants only to generate electricity.
Washington has reservations about Tehran's talks with the European Union, which is trying to persuade Iran to scrap uranium enrichment, which can be used to make fuel in weapons or material for a bomb, Rademaker added during a briefing
"Our view is that Iran has seriously embarked on an effort to develop nuclear weapons ... We are therefore very sceptical of Iran's good faith in these negotiations," he said.
But the United States has promised not to hinder efforts by France, Britain and Germany to negotiate a suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment programme ahead of a November 25 meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog's governing board, he said.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been probing Iran's nuclear programme for two years. It has found many previously concealed activities that could be linked to weapons, but no "smoking gun" to show the US view is right.
Iran and the EU reached a tentative suspension deal over the weekend, but it has not been formally approved.
Diplomats say that if Iran refuses to agree to a suspension, most European countries will support a US proposal that the IAEA board report Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Iran has said it is prepared to agree to a suspension of enrichment-related activities until a more permanent deal - under which the EU might providing peaceful nuclear technology and a trade deal - is negotiated.
However, a member of Tehran's negotiating team, Sirus Naseri, said Iran would never agree to the Europeans' ultimate goal - that it scrap uranium enrichment for good.
"We will definitely not give up uranium enrichment. It is possible that we say that for a limited time we will suspend some operations but that doesn't mean that we are going to put aside our capability," Naseri told Iranian state radio.
"This is totally different to halting (enrichment), which is becoming a dream for the European countries. The EU has gradually understood that this is impossible", he added.
Naseri said the EU trio had made a preliminary commitment to oppose referring Iran to the Security Council at the November board meeting and to push for an end to the IAEA special investigation of Iran's nuclear programme.
A deal with the EU and Iran on European support for joining the World Trade Organisation is also under discussion.
"These two have been discussed and they (the Europeans) will definitely support it because it is beneficial for both sides," Naseri said.
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