TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign minister today welcomed the U.S. decision to “correct” its claim that Tehran has an active nuclear weapons program, state-run radio reported.

President Bush said that the international community should continue to pressure Iran on its nuclear program in the wake of the U.S. intelligence assessment released Monday, which reversed earlier claims that Iran had restarted its weapons program in 2005 after suspending it in 2003 because of international pressure.

“I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program,” Bush said. “The reason why it’s a warning signal is they could restart it.”

Israel’s defense minister said that Israeli intelligence believes Iran is still trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

“It’s natural that we welcome ... countries that correct their views realistically which in the past had questions and ambiguities about (Iran’s nuclear activities),” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said the report “should help to defuse the current crisis.”

But U.S. allies France and Britain said sanctions were still an option, insisting the report did not completely lift concerns over Tehran.

“We must maintain pressure on Iran,” French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s spokesman Michael Allam said, “The report confirms we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop nuclear weapons. It also shows that the sanctions program and international pressure has had some effect.”

China said that it could not confirm the report and urged further negotiations to resolve the ongoing crisis.

“China’s position is quite consistent,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters at a regular briefing. “I have nothing new to add.”

Russia and China have resisted pressure for new sanctions and hold veto powers at the United Nations.

Without referring to the report, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Tuesday that Tehran’s nuclear program should be transparent and remain under control of the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

The finding is part of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran that also cautions that Tehran continues to enrich uranium and still could develop a bomb between 2010 and 2015 if it decided to do so.

The conclusion that Iran’s weapons program was still frozen, through at least mid-2007, represents a sharp turnaround from the previous intelligence assessment in 2005.

Then, U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program. The new report concludes that Iran’s decisions are rational and pragmatic, and that Tehran is more susceptible to diplomatic and financial pressure than previously thought.

“Tehran’s decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005,” says the unclassified summary of the secret report.

The findings come at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which Bush has labeled part of an “axis of evil,” along with Iraq and North Korea.

At an Oct. 17 news conference, Bush said, “If you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”

Other Iranian officials also praised the new intelligence report.

“This confession from within the U.S. administration’s most sensitive ranks is proof ... that (Iran’s) nuclear program is peaceful,” top lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.

In Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said “it’s apparently true” that Iran stopped pursuing its military nuclear program in 2003.

“But in our opinion, since then it has apparently continued that program,” Barak told Army Radio. “There are differences in the assessments of different organizations in the world about this, and only time will tell who is right.”

Asked if the new U.S. assessment reduced chances that the U.S. will launch a military strike on Iran, Barak said that was “possible.”

However, he said, “We cannot allow ourselves to rest just because of an intelligence report from the other side of the earth, even if it is from our greatest friend.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stopped short of disputing the U.S. assessment, playing down the new gap between the Israeli and American views.

“According to this report, and to the American position, it is vital to continue efforts to prevent Iran from attaining (nuclear) capability,” Olmert told reporters before meeting with Italy’s deputy prime minister.

On Monday, senior intelligence officials said they failed to detect Iran’s fall 2003 halt in nuclear weapons development in time to reflect it in the 2005 estimate.

Bush was briefed on the 100-page document on Nov. 28. National Intelligence Estimates represent the most authoritative written judgments of all 16 U.S. spy agencies. Congress and other executive agencies were briefed Monday, and foreign governments will be briefed beginning today, the officials said.

The intelligence officials said they do not know all the reasons why Iran halted its weapons program, or what might trigger its resumption. They said they are confident that diplomatic and political pressure played a key role, but said the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Libya’s termination of its nuclear program and the implosion of the illegal nuclear smuggling network run by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan also might have influenced Tehran.

To develop a nuclear weapon, Iran needs to design and engineer a warhead, obtain enough fissile material, and build a delivery vehicle such as a missile. The intelligence agencies now believe Iran halted warhead engineering four years ago and as of mid-2007 had not restarted it.

But Iran is still enriching uranium for its civilian nuclear reactors that produce electricity. That leaves open the possibility that fissile material could be diverted to covert nuclear sites to produce highly enriched uranium for a warhead.

This national intelligence estimate was originally due in the spring of 2007 but was delayed because the agencies wanted more confidence their findings were accurate, given the inaccuracy of the 2002 intelligence estimate of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell decided last month that key judgments of NIEs should not be declassified and released. The intelligence officials said an exception was made in this case because the last assessment of Iran’s nuclear program in 2005 has influenced public debate about U.S. policy toward Iran, and must be updated to reflect the latest findings.

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Associated Press writers Pamela Hess in Washington and Matti Friedman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.