BERLIN, Feb. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said here Friday that the German government has suspected Iran has been seeking to develop nuclear bomb.

    His remarks came one day after French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said that there was a secret military nuclear program in Iran.

    He said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna had expressed similar suspicions and further details would be released in an IAEA report on Iran due to be published on March 6.

    "Until then we have to assume there will be this suspicion," he told a press conference after talks with NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

    Scheffer noted NATO has not played a leading role in the Iran nuclear issue, but that did not mean it was not the military alliance's topic of discussion.

    What was important was that the European Union trio of Germany, France and Britain should play a leading role together with the United States on the issue.

    On the same day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who visited Berlin for the first time since Merkel became chancellor in last November, restated their determination to take a firm stand against the development of nuclear weapons by Iran.

    Blair said they wanted to see the tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions resolved by diplomatic means, while Merkel said Tehran must not "overstep the mark" in its response to the concerns of the international community. Enditem