WASHINGTON, Dec 12: US President George Bush’s administration plans to sign a nuclear cooperation deal with the United Arab Emirates, the first such agreement with a Middle East country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The paper cited an unnamed senior US official for the report, saying the White House wanted to use the deal as a model for promoting peaceful nuclear energy as a contrast to Iran’s disputed nuclear programme.

“This is a real counterexample to what Iran is doing,” the senior US official was quoted as saying.

“We’re seeking commitments from nations within the Middle East that they’re going to rely on the markets for nuclear fuel.” The Bush administration has accused Iran of pursuing a clandestine effort to build nuclear weapons and demanded Tehran suspend uranium enrichment work.

The administration also was pursuing nuclear cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain.

The deals call for the United States to share nuclear fuel, technology and know-how in return for commitments to follow the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and UN safeguards, the Journal wrote.

The UAE has already signed agreements with two US engineering companies, Thorium Power and CH2M Hill, to help with develop nuclear power plants, the paper wrote.

And the country has also recruited a former official from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to help run its own atomic regulatory agency, it said.

It was unclear if president-elect Barack Obama, who takes office on Jan 20, would back the proposed agreement and lobby Congress to ratify it.

Some lawmakers are wary the agreement could feed the spread of nuclear weapons in the region.

The Bush administration had hoped to have the accord with the UAE, which is Iran’s largest trading partner, signed last month, the paper reported.

But UAE officials decided to postpone the signing given Obama’s election victory in November and possible opposition in Congress, unnamed officials told the Journal.

The UAE is sensitive to congressional reaction after its state-owned company DP World had to cancel plans in 2006 to buy US port holdings from British P&O due to stiff opposition from American lawmakers.

The staunch US ally also signed a deal with France for help in developing nuclear energy for peaceful ends during a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Abu Dhabi in January.

—AFP