In Washington, the two leaders say Tehran can’t be trusted with nuclear technology.
President Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered equally stern warnings Thursday about the potential dangers of Iran’s nuclear program, and the Briton held out the prospect of extended European sanctions to block outside investment.
On a day when the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency said Tehran was making only slow progress toward production of material suitable for nuclear weapons, Bush and Brown joined in denouncing the Iranian government.

“They have proven themselves to be untrustworthy,” Bush said. Added Brown, “Iran has not told the truth to the international community about what its plans are.”

While Tehran argues that its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes, Mr. Bush told reporters that it “is, in my judgment, naïve” to think that the know-how that Iranians are developing could not be transferred to military efforts to produce an atomic weapon.
Iranian leaders, he said, had proved themselves “untrustworthy.”

Brown, meeting at the White House with US President George W. Bush, said that he had been talking to fellow European leaders on how to broaden sanctions against Tehran and to make sure that the existing measures were properly enforced.

“In the next few weeks, we want to extend the measures and sanctions to include investment in liquefied natural gas. I believe that sends another signal to the regime that what is happening is unacceptable,” Brown said.

“Iran is in breach of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran has not told the truth to the international community about what its plans are,” Brown said, “I’m talking to other European leaders about how we can extend European sanctions against Iran over the next period of time, and to ensure that what sanctions are taken are effectively implemented.”

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in Berlin that Iran’s effort at enriching uranium was moving slowly and that the centrifuges it had added to its nuclear fuel production facility had been older models, Reuters news agency reported. ElBaradei urged Iran not to speed up its program.

Bush added that if the Islamic Republic learned how to enrich uranium, the knowledge “can be used to develop a nuclear weapon.”