President Bush called on Iran to “come clean” about its nuclear activities on Wednesday, two days after the release of a National Intelligence Estimate that concluded Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

President Bush: “It is clear from the latest NIE that the Iranian government has more to explain about its nuclear intentions and past actions, especially the covert nuclear weapons program pursued into the fall of 2003, which the Iranian regime has yet to acknowledge.”

The Bush administration has vowed to keep pushing for stiffer sanctions against Iran even though its own intelligence agencies say Iran has no nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the findings of the US intelligence agencies is consistent with what the IAEA has found.

Mohamed ElBaradei: “It is consistent with what the agency and I have been saying for a number of years. That is, while we still have some important questions about Iran’s past activities, about Iran’s current program, we have not seen any undeclared weapon — ongoing weapon program, we have not seen any undeclared nuclear material that could be used in weapons.”

El Baradei said he hopes the findings of the NIE would allow some space to pursue a diplomatic solution.

Mohamed ElBaradei: “I see, frankly, this report as a window of opportunity. It’s a window of opportunity because it gives diplomacy a renewed chance, and there is not the sense of urgency that people have been talking about, that Iran is about to develop a nuclear weapon tomorrow.”

In Washington, John Bolton and other Republican hawks are openly questioning the findings of the NIE. Bolton claimed there is a risk that members of the intelligence community politicized the intelligence on Iran because they had an agenda that was contrary to President Bush’s.