U.S. can help on N-plant, Iran says

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran opened the door Sunday for U.S. help in building a nuclear power plant — a move designed to ease American suspicions that Tehran is using its nuclear program as a cover to build atomic weapons.

The offer, which did not seem likely to win acceptance in Washington, was issued as Israel said it had not ruled out a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

"America can take part in international bidding for the construction of Iran's nuclear power plant if they observe the basic standards and quality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a news conference.

Asefi was apparently talking about a 360-megawatt light water nuclear power plant that the head of the country's atomic organization said Saturday would be built in southwestern Iran.

Iran also wants to produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity by building nuclear power plants with foreign help in southern Iran.

In Washington, neither the State Department nor the White House issued any comment on the proposal.

While it was unclear how the Americans would react to the Iranian proposal, relations between Tehran and Washington, which were severed after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, have seldom been worse. The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, preventing American companies from doing business in Iran.

The United States also has ratcheted up pressure against Iran, accusing it of pursuing a nuclear weapons program and supporting anti-Israeli militants. Iran says its nuclear program is designed only to generate electricity.

Still, the United States is pushing for Tehran to be hauled before the U.N. Security Council, where it could face economic sanctions for violating a nuclear arms control treaty.

The Iranian offer comes at a time when Iran is facing a barrage of criticism over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent remarks, first that Israel should be wiped off the map and later that the Jewish state should be moved to Europe.

On Sunday, Israel denied a British newspaper report it has plans to attack Iran in March, but officials said they would not rule out a military strike if Iran makes advances in building nuclear weapons. The report appeared in the Sunday Times.