The recent violent history in Iraq bears an important lesson for diplomacy with neighboring Iran, the diplomat said. "We should not jump the gun. We should be very careful about assessing the information available to us," he said.
The Bush administration led a coalition into Iraq in 2003 saying President
Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found.
"I ask myself every day if that's the way we want to go in getting rid of every single dictator," ElBaradei said.
While it was unclear whether Iran ultimately intended to redirect its development of nuclear power into a weapons system, it was clear there was no danger of that right now, he said...