BBC NEWS | Middle East | Bush urges Tehran to come clean

Bush urges Tehran to come clean

US President George W Bush has said that Iran should reveal the full extent of its nuclear programme, or risk further international isolation.

A US intelligence assessment released on Monday said that Iran had halted a nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the US report a "great victory" for Iran.

But Mr Bush said Iran still had "more to explain" about its past actions, and that it must cease uranium enrichment.

He said Iran had yet to acknowledge that it had a covert nuclear weapons programme which ran until 2003 - as stated by Monday's National Intelligence Estimate (NIE).

The report said Iran was keeping its options open, continuing to enrich uranium, which could be used for nuclear weapons in the future.

'Still a problem'

"The Iranians have a strategic choice to make," said the US president.

The report gives me a sigh of relief because it is consistent with our assessment
Mohamed ElBaradei
IAEA Director General

If you want to negotiate with us as an enemy, the Iranian people will resist and will conquer you
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad