US says Iran has enough uranium for a nuclear weapon

“This ongoing enrichment activity . . . moves Iran closer to a dangerous and destabilizing possible breakout capacity,’’ Davies told the agency’s 35-nation board of governors.

“Taken in connection with Iran’s refusal to engage with the IAEA regarding its past nuclear warhead-related work, we have serious concerns that Iran is deliberately attempting, at a minimum, to preserve a nuclear weapons option,’’ Davies said.

The latest agency report describes how Iran now has, at a minimum, 3,153 pounds of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride, he added.

Iran insists its program is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity. But the United States and important allies contend it is covertly trying to build a bomb.

President Obama and European allies have given Iran until the end of September to take up an offer of trade incentives and nuclear talks with six world powers should it suspend uranium enrichment activities. If not, Iran could face harsher punitive sanctions. It already has defied three sets of UN Security Council sanctions since 2006 for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.

In Tehran yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki handed his country’s proposals for new talks to the ambassadors of Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany - and the Swiss ambassador, representing US interests.

Details were not immediately known but on Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country will neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights but is ready to sit and talk with world powers over “global challenges.’’

“The basis of negotiation will be this package,’’ Tehran’s envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told reporters in Vienna, declining to divulge details. He reiterated that his country was ready to clear up questions.

“Regarding Iran’s nuclear issue, if there are any questions or ambiguities, we are well prepared to remove ambiguities in the context of the IAEA,’’ he said.

At the State Department, spokesman Ian C. Kelly told reporters that the Iranian proposal was received yesterday afternoon. He said he could not comment on its specifics until officials had reviewed the document and consulted with other countries. “We are now reviewing its seriously and carefully,’’ he said.

In comments to the board earlier, Davies said he hoped that Tehran will take “immediate steps to restore international trust and confidence.’’