Cheney Warns Iran Against Pursuing Nuclear Weapons (Brendan Murray)

  Vice President Dick Cheney warns that ``all options are still on the table'' in the United States's efforts to halt Iran's atomic aspirations.

  Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Vice President Dick Cheney said the U.S. is committed to a diplomatic course to resolve a nuclear dispute with Iran and warned that ``all options are still on the table'' to halt the country's atomic aspirations.

  ``We believe it would be a serious mistake if a nation such as Iran were to become a nuclear power,'' Cheney said today at a news conference in Sydney after talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. ``We are deeply concerned about Iran's activities.''

  Cheney's warning to Tehran comes near the end of a week- long trip to Japan and Australia, where he is trying to shore up support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq and for a six-party deal for North Korea to give up its nuclear weaponry in exchange for aid. President George W. Bush branded Iraq, Iran and North Korea part of an ``axis of evil'' in January 2002.

  Iran has expanded its capacity to enrich uranium, defying a United Nations Security Council demand to halt its atomic work and prompting the U.S. to consider seeking further international sanctions against the Islamic republic, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency report.

  The UN Security Council unanimously voted Dec. 23 to impose sanctions on Iran over its program, including a ban on the acquisition of materials that might be used to build weapons. The UN gave Iran 60 days to halt enrichment, the process that can fuel a reactor or produce a bomb, and called for tougher sanctions if yesterday's compliance deadline wasn't met. Iran didn't suspend the work, the IAEA said.

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