LUXEMBOURG, May 24: Iran could develop a nuclear weapon in three to eight years, the head of the UN atomic watchdog said on Thursday, while warning the West against military action to stop countries becoming nuclear powers.

“We cannot bomb our way to security,” Mohamed ElBaradei, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, told an anti-proliferation conference in Luxembourg.

While US 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, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again dismissed the threats.

France and the United States said the UN Security Council would have to discuss a third package of sanctions against Iran unless it freezes sensitive uranium enrichment work.

Mr ElBaradei 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.

“In other words three to eight years from now,” he said.

Mr ElBaradei told reporters: “We are moving toward Iran building capacity and knowledge 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.

In the conference, Mr ElBaradei said world powers should slash their nuclear arsenals to set an example to countries trying to develop such weapons.

He urged the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France and the United States -- to refrain from using the threat of force to dissuade countries from developing atomic weapons.

“Rather we should focus on addressing the underlying causes,” he added, listing growing poverty as a factor that leads to human rights abuses, humiliation and ultimately violence.

“The enemies aim to prevent us from using peaceful nuclear technology, not for scientific reasons but because they want to eradicate the roots of the principles of the Islamic republic,” Mr Ahmadinejad said.

“Therefore if we stop, even for a moment, they will achieve their aims,” he told the elite Revolutionary Guards commanders, news agencies said.

The United States said that unless Iran agreed to a longstanding offer to suspend sensitive nuclear work as a prelude to negotiations, there was no other option than a drive for further sanctions.

“Iran is once again thumbing its nose at the international community,” US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said.

New French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Paris backed the rapid adoption of “new sanctions” against Iran if it maintains its refusal.

The German presidency of the EU also urged Iran to “reconsider its policy and to comply with the demands of the international community.”

China emphasised that it wanted to see a diplomatic end to the standoff.—AFP