Iran opened the door on Sunday for US help in building a nuclear power plant -- a move designed to ease US suspicions that Tehran is using its nuclear program as a cover to build atomic weapons.
The offer, which did not seem likely to win acceptance in Washington, was issued as Israel said it had not ruled out a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
"America can take part in international bidding for the construction of Iran's nuclear power plant if they observe the basic standards and quality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a news conference.
Asefi was apparently talking about a 360-megawatt light water nuclear power plant that the head of the country's atomic organization said on Saturday would be constructed in southwestern Iran.
Iran also wants to produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity by building nuclear power plants with foreign help in southern Iran.
In Washington, neither the State Department nor the White House issued comments on the proposal.
The Iranian offer comes at a time when Iran is facing a barrage of criticism over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent remarks, first that Israel should be wiped off the may and later that Israel should be moved to Europe.
On Sunday, Israel denied a British report that it has plans to attack Iran in March, but officials said they would not rule out a military strike if Iran makes advances in building nuclear weapons.
Amos Gilad, a senior Defense Ministry official, said attention was now focused on an international solution over the Iranian program but added, "it isn't correct to say that a country that is threatened should deny that it will ever consider a different option."
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said that Israeli would never accept a nuclear-armed Iran.
"Israel can't live in a situation in which Iran has the atomic bomb," he said.
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