**Iran is moving closer to being able to make a nuclear bomb, the US envoy has told a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.**Glyn Davies told the meeting Iran was nearly or already in possession of enough low-enriched uranium to produce a bomb, if it was further enriched.
Iran denies seeking anything beyond a civilian nuclear power programme.
It says it will present a package of new proposals to the group of six world powers negotiating over its programme.
The negotiations are taking place as the IAEA - the UN nuclear watchdog - holds a week-long meeting in Vienna.
‘Dangerous and destabilising’
“We have serious concerns that Iran is deliberately attempting, at a minimum, to preserve a nuclear weapons option,” US envoy Mr Davies told the 35 nations on the IAEA board of governors.
“Iran is now either very near or in possession already of sufficient low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon if the decision were made to further enrich it to weapons-grade.”
He said this moved Iran “closer to a dangerous and destabilising possible break-out capacity” - the point at which it could create an atomic bomb.
On Tuesday, Iranian media reported that Tehran was preparing to present a new set of proposals to the global powers involved in talks over its nuclear programme - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Fars new agency he hoped that “in the framework of this package we will be able to launch a new round of talks”.
But some observers believe Tehran might just be stalling for time, reports the BBC’s world affairs correspondent, Peter Biles.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to attend the UN General Assembly in New York later this month, and Iran’s willingness to co-operate internationally is now under greater scrutiny than ever, he says.
Mixed report
The head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, has said in the past that the threat posed by Iran is exaggerated. But on Monday he sounded a note of impatience, warning talks had reached “stalemate”.
“It is essential that Iran substantively re-engage with the agency to clarify and bring to closure all outstanding issues,” he said.
In its latest report, the IAEA said a visit to Iran’s Natanz plant in August had noted a reduction in the number of centrifuges used to actively enrich uranium.
But it also accused Tehran of a lack of co-operation with the IAEA on Western intelligence allegations of weaponisation.
Iran is continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of the UN Security Council, saying it has a right to a nuclear power programme.