ElBaradei: Intelligence pointing to nuclear arms research by Iran "not genuine"....

Reuters, here

"... ElBaradei also told Reuters on Wednesday that U.N. inspectors had no proof of more covert nuclear sites in Iran but a newly revealed enrichment site made little sense for civilian or military ends and mistrust in Tehran's behavior had grown.....

He said recourse to harsher sanctions against Iran, hinted at last week by Western powers angered by the fuel deal holdup, was likely to be counterproductive. U.N. resolutions against Iran were largely "expressions of frustration," he added......

"They are ready to put material under IAEA control on an (Iranian) island in the Persian Gulf. But the whole idea as I explained to them, to defuse this crisis, is to take the material out of Iran," said ElBaradei. "I do not think (Iran's counter-proposal) will work as far as the West is concerned, he said.....

ElBaradei welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama's readiness to wait until the end of the year for Iran to give ground before considering further sanctions, but Tehran should not waste time..."Unless Obama sees a (workable) response from Iran, he will not be able to sustain his initiative (for nuclear detente with Iran) ... But I'm not throwing in the towel."......

"But people should stop threatening the use of force because that simply ... creates a justification or pretext for countries to say well, we have to go underground because we are being threatened," ElBaradei said, alluding to Israeli and U.S. hawks.....

ElBaradei also denied reports, based on leaks of classified IAEA analyses, saying the agency had concluded Iran had developed technology needed to assemble a nuclear warhead. He said intelligence material pointing to nuclear arms research by Iran used by IAEA analysts was serious but had not been verified as genuine. Iran says the intelligence was forged."