US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States is perfectly prepared to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program.

Rice told BBC Arabic TV that Washington is ready for nuclear talk with Iran. She however, repeated previous US allegations that Tehran was headed toward a military nuclear program.

"What we don't want to do is to give Iran cover to continue improving its nuclear programs that could lead to a nuclear weapon," she said, adding that no one in the international community wants to see nuclear-armed Iran.

Despite hinting at readiness for holding talks with Iran over its nuclear program, Washington insists Tehran halt uranium enrichment as a precondition for the negotiations.

The allegations against Iran come as the UN nuclear watchdog Chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Monday that Iran was nowhere near obtaining nuclear weapons.

"They [Iranians] as I just recently mentioned still don't even have the nuclear material, the low-enriched uranium, to develop one nuclear weapon," he said in an address at London City Hall.

Earlier in September, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its latest report on Iran's nuclear activities that the agency had not discovered any 'components of a nuclear weapon' or 'related nuclear physics studies' in the country.

The IAEA report also confirmed that the agency had conducted 'seventeen unannounced inspections' at the country's nuclear plants, where Iran has managed to enrich uranium-235 to a level 'less than 5 percent'.

The rate is consistent with the construction of a nuclear power plant. Nuclear arms production requires an enrichment level of above 90 percent.

AR/SME/HGH