Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Thursday that Iran does not currently pose an immediate threat to the international community.

 

"Iran does not constitute a certain and immediate threat to the international community," said the UN nuclear chief in an interview with Italian RAI television while in Italy for an IAEA conference.

 

ElBaradei made the remarks amid rising international tension regarding the nuclear deadlock with Teheran.

 

However, the director of the UN nuclear watchdog also called for efforts to push forward dialog, saying that a delay in talks could result in negative consequences.

 

The US and France have called for a tougher hand in the dispute with Iran over its uranium enrichment program, which the US and its allies suspect is the first step in an effort to acquire an atomic bomb.

 

France on Thursday called on its European partners to take their own economic measures against Iran while working to secure new UN sanctions at the same time.

 

Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Thursday that the country successfully testified a new model of its home-made fighter jet, the official IRNA news agency reported.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2007)