Washington -- Vice President Cheney says Iran needs to assure the world that it is not trying to acquire nuclear weapons.

Interviewed February 6 on the Fox News Sunday television program, Cheney said the Iranians should do the "right thing" and agree to "transparency" to show that they are not trying to build a nuclear weapons arsenal.

Cheney said the Iranians are fully aware that the rest of the world does not want them to acquire nuclear weapons.

"I can't think of anybody who's eager to see the Iranians develop that kind of capability," he said.

Cheney said the United States supports the "good faith" efforts by France, Germany and Great Britain to resolve the Iranian issue diplomatically.

But the vice president said that if the diplomatic process breaks down, the probable next step concerning Iran would be to go to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. From there, it would be up to the U.N. Security Council to decide whether or not to impose international sanctions on the Iranians.

"We have not eliminated any alternatives" regarding Iran, Cheney said, but he added that "at this point, we obviously are seriously pursuing diplomatic resolution" to persuade Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons.

Cheney expressed skepticism regarding Iran's claims that it has stopped its uranium-enrichment program, with its potential to produce nuclear weapons material, and that such a program would be used only for peaceful purposes.

The vice president said he could not say "with absolute certainty" that the enrichment program has been stopped, and said there is "some evidence" to suggest that the program would support a nuclear weapons capability.

Regarding progress toward democracy in Iran, Cheney said the Iranians have held a number of elections, but "unfortunately the most recent series of elections have been tainted by the ruling power" in Iran.

The ruling mullahs in Iran, the vice president said, "control who can get on the [election] ballot" and "they've kept a lot of serious reformers off the ballot to put a crimp" on the potential for the younger generation in Iran to express itself freely.

According to Cheney, President Bush wanted to make it clear during his State of the Union address February 2 that the United States supports the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom and democracy. He also wanted to encourage the "reformers" inside Iran "to work to build a true democracy -- one that doesn't vest enormous power as this one does in the unelected mullahs who we believe are a threat to peace and stability" in the entire Middle East, he said.

Assessing the January 30 elections in Iraq, Cheney said there is a "lot of evidence" that the Shi'ite coalition is very interested in talking to the Sunni minority in the country to get the Sunnis involved in the electoral process, even though the latter group did not participate in great numbers in the election.

Asked about the influence of the Islamic religion vis-à-vis the secular "side of the house" in Iraq, Cheney said that "I think we have to be very careful here. We're trying to forecast what an as yet unformed government is going to do based on partial election returns without really having heard or [letting] the debate unfold."

The Iraqi election represented the "first step" in electing an Iraqi national assembly that will create a new government, Cheney said. This government "will be the first democratically elected government in a very long time, and it's now up to Iraqis to take the next step," he continued.

The important thing to remember about the new Iraqi constitution, the vice president said, is that "this is not going to be an Iraqi version of America. This is going to be Iraqi, written by the Iraqis, for the Iraqis, implemented and executed by them, and it is absolutely essential that it be allowed to happen and that we preserve the integrity of that process."

Asked how long U.S. forces would remain in Iraq, Cheney said the leading figures on the Shi'ite election ticket have said they are opposed to setting any deadline.

Cheney said the "responsible Iraqis, the ones we've been working with, understand, just as do we, the ultimate test here is when do we complete the mission" in Iraq.

"Once we've completed the mission, stood up an effective Iraqi government, and they have the security forces in place to be able to take care of their own, then we're out of there," said Cheney. "We have no desire to stay a day longer [in Iraq] than is necessary."

Taken from the U.S. State Department's Washington File web site.