PARIS, Oct 22: Iran would need three to eight years to make a nuclear bomb, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said in an interview published on Monday, and he warned against a rush to use force to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told France’s Le Monde newspaper there was plenty of time for diplomacy, sanctions, dialogue and incentives to bear fruit.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the world would not stand by and let Iran develop a nuclear weapon, and Washington has not ruled out an attack.

“I cannot judge their intentions, but supposing that Iran does intend to acquire a nuclear bomb, it would need between another three and eight years to succeed,” ElBaradei told Le Monde. “All the intelligence services agree on that.”

“I want to get people away from the idea that Iran will be a threat from tomorrow, and that we are faced right now with the issue of whether Iran should be bombed or allowed to have the bomb,” the Nobel peace prize winner said.

“We are not at all in that situation. Iraq is a glaring example of how, in many cases, the use of force exacerbates the problem rather than solving it.”

There was no immediate comment from Iran on his comments.

The West wants to impose further sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can make fuel for power plants or, if Iran wanted, material for warheads.

Major powers have agreed to delay a move against Iran until November to see if Tehran answers IAEA queries about its intentions. ElBaradei said it would not be a problem if those talks extended into December.

Separately, ElBaradei said he hoped to soon have information on an Israeli raid last month on a suspected nuclear facility in Syria, which has been shrouded in mystery.

Israel has confirmed it carried out an air strike on Syria on Sept 6 but has not described the target. Syria has said only that it was a building under construction.

ElBaradei said he had no information that North Korea had been supplying nuclear know-how to Syria and noted the UN charter only permitted the use of force in the face of an imminent threat or with the prior approval of the world body.

Olmert’s reaction: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday criticised UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei for saying there was no clear and present danger from Iran’s nuclear programme.

“If ElBaradei thinks that an Iranian bomb in three years time does not bother him, it certainly worries me, even extremely,” Olmert told journalists in Paris after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“If it’s three years, this is very near and extremely concerning,” he said, adding dryly: “It would be better if ElBaradei made an effort to prevent them from obtaining a bomb.”—Agencies