By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The United States appeared to rule out on Monday a proposal by the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency aimed at helping the West and Iran avert a rush to war over Tehran's nuclear program. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, has proposed a "timeout" in the confrontation between Tehran and the U.N. Security Council under which Iranian nuclear work and U.N. sanctions on Tehran would be simultaneously suspended. But acting U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said a Dec. 23 council resolution specified that the sanctions could be suspended only after Iran fully and verifiably suspended its nuclear enrichment and reprocessing activities. "So that is very clear, and it is not subject to reinterpretation," Wolff told reporters. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin sounded more encouraging about the proposal, which ElBaradei offered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last Friday. While acknowledging Iran would have to first end its enrichment and reprocessing activities, he added: "If Iran were to decide to start such a moratorium, then of course a number of good things would be happening, including a suspension of the sanctions." "Nobody is speaking about things unverified. All acts will have to be verified," he added. Iran said on Sunday it needed time to review ElBaradei's suggestion. Tehran insists it wants a nuclear program only to generate electricity but the West accuses it of using the program as a cover for making bombs. The Dec. 23 resolution was meant to punish Iran for its failure to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which can be used to make fuel for power plants or material for bombs. It was given 60 days from that time to halt the work. The United States has said it wants diplomacy to resolve the standoff but has not ruled out military action if that fails and has sent two aircraft carriers to the Gulf. U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated on Monday that he had no intention of invading Iran but warned that Washington would "respond firmly" if Tehran fueled violence in Iraq.
