PARIS, March 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Head of United Nations nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday called on the United States to make security pledge for Iran in order to push forward the nuclear negotiations by Europe with that country.

    ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters at an international conference on civilian atomicpower programs that if countries of the European Union (EU) reached accord with Iran on a nuclear settlement and promised to guarantee security for that country, the US should follow suit because security commitment requires US participation.

    The IAEA chief believed that conditions for a US involvement inthe negotiation efforts are ripe now, adding that security in the Mideast region concerns not only Europe.

    He said that talks with Iran are not stalled and a new round ofdiscussion will start Wednesday.

    Washington suspected Iran was using civilian nuclear power programs as a cover for its underground plan for nuclear weapons and threatened to submit the issue to the UN Security Council.

    However, the US seems to have somewhat backed down from its hard-line policy against the country and the Bush administration agreed last week to support a European plan that offers economic incentives for the Tehran government to freeze its nuclear activities permanently.

    As part of the agreement, the United States said it would stop opposing an Iranian membership in the World Trade Organization.

    The EU said if it failed to secure a positive result from the talks, it would agree to report the case to the UN Security Council. Enditem