VIENNA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Former Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammed ElBaradei called on the Western countries to keep patience on Iranian nuclear issue, saying, "Sanctions are not the solution."

    According to the Austrian newspaper Kurier that will be released on Thursday, he told the paper in an interview that with regard to Iranian nuclear issue, the international community "should have patience. Iran is no immediate threat."

    "Some people want to show that Iran will have a nuclear bomb tomorrow. It will not, we have not seen, at least," he said. He suggested that in dealing with Iranian nuclear issue "there is no reason for hasty decisions."

    Baradei also noted that the dispute between Iran and the West might be solved only through dialogue. Isolation and sanctions could not solve the problem, but "will lead to more conflicts."

    He said "Today we know that the decision for war had been made one year before we started our inspections." The accusation that Iraq possesses nuclear weapons at that time "was a scam," he said.

    Baradei was appointed as director-general of IAEA in 1997 and stepped down on Nov. 30, 2009. During his terms, Iranian nuclear issue had become the focus of international attention.

    Some Western countries accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly under the cover of civilian use of nuclear power, which was denied by Iran.