WASHINGTON, March 4: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged the international community to criminalize nuclear proliferation and close loopholes that "allow countries like Iran" to produce weapon-grade nuclear material.

Mr Powell presented this proposal as part of a seven-point action plan he laid out before the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday evening, underlining the Bush administration's strategy for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Such measures, he said, had become unavoidable after the uncovering of "one particular nefarious network - that of A.Q. Khan." "Men and women of our own and other intelligence services have done superb and often very dangerous work to disclose the operations (of this network)," he said.

"Now, we and our friends and allies are working around the clock to get all the details of this network and to shut it down, permanently." Mr Powell said that because of the efforts of these intelligence services, the world now knew that this network had fed nuclear technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea.

To prevent other individuals and nations from making nuclear weapons in the future, the US Secretary of State proposed seven measures:

* Expand the Proliferation Security Initiative to address more than shipments and transfers; even to take direct action against proliferation networks.

* Call on all nations to strengthen the laws and international controls that govern proliferation, including passing laws that require all states to criminalize proliferation, enact strict export controls, and secure sensitive materials.

* Expand efforts to keep Cold War weapons and other dangerous materials out of the hands of terrorists.

* Close the loophole in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that allows states such as Iran to produce nuclear material that can be used to build bombs under the cover of civilian nuclear programmes.

* Universalize the Additional Protocol of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.

* Create a special committee on the IAEA board of governors to focus on safeguards and verification.

* And, finally, disallow countries under investigation for violating nuclear non-proliferation treaties from serving on the IAEA board of governors.

Earlier, while discussing the 2005 US budget for international affairs, Mr Powell said his department was seeking more than $5.7 billion for assistance to countries around the world that have joined the United States in the war on terrorism, including Turkey, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Masood Haider from New York adds: Two American nuclear arms experts on Thursday called on the Bush administration to punish Dubai for allowing transfer of illicit arms and nuclear technology through its ports.

In an extensive Op-ed article in the New York Times, Gary Milhollin, Director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, and Kelly Motz, Associate Director, noted that in the nuclear proliferation activities of scientist Dr A.Q.Khan "unfortunately, one American ally at the heart of the scandal, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, seems to be escaping punishment despite its role as the key transfer point in Dr Khan's atomic bazaar."

They maintained that "the lesson of the Khan affair is that instead of focussing solely on "rogue regimes," we have to shut down the companies and individuals that supply them with illicit arms and technology."

"The United States and its allies have to put pressure on the countries that allow the trade to flourish - even if it means withholding aid and refusing arms sales. Unless Dubai cleans up its act, it should be treated like the smugglers it harbours."