U.S. nuclear report opportunity for Iran: IAEA chief

By Isabel Versiani

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A U.S intelligence report saying Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 offered Tehran a "window of opportunity" to resolve the crisis, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El-Baradei, said on Wednesday.

"It opens a window of opportunity for Iran now because Iran obviously has been somewhat vindicated in saying they have not been working on a weapons program at least for the last few years," El-Baradei told a news conference in the Brazilian capital Brasilia.

The U.S. intelligence report went against earlier Bush administration assertions that Iran was building an atomic bomb.

"The report gives me a sigh of relief because it is consistent with our assessment," El-Baradei said.

In response to the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) which said Iran halted a nuclear weapons program in 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday Iran remained a danger because it was mastering technology with a military use.

The NIE report said Iran was continuing to develop the technical means that could be applied to producing weapons.

Heightened U.S. rhetoric prior to the new report suggested Bush was considering military action against Iran.

Asked whether he agreed that Iran remained a threat, El-Baradei said: "We cannot obviously at this stage give a guarantee because there is work that needs to be done ... whether Iran continues to be a threat, to whom, and under which conditions, these are issues that need to be discussed around a negotiating table."

But Iran must work to make sure all its past nuclear history and the present was declared to the IAEA, he said.

"The earlier we have a peaceful resolution of the Iran issue, the earlier we have some hope we are able to move to a peaceful Middle East," he said.

El-Baradei is in Brazil to visit the Resende uranium enrichment plant near Rio de Janeiro, which opened last year and is at the early stages of producing nuclear fuel for power plants.

(Reporting by Isabel Versiani, writing by Angus MacSwan, editing by Vicki Allen)