Associated Press

Pakistan, India, Brazil, Argentina and Iraq have been able to build or expand nuclear weapons capabilities by smuggling materials from supplier countries, according to a private study released yesterday.

To counter these activities, the report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recommends that the United States and other suppliers threaten military and economic sanctions against countries engaging in such operations.

Titled "Nuclear Exports: The Challenge of Control," the report said West Germany has been the "weak link" in the international export control system and must tight. en export laws. India and Pakistan have relied on West German suppliers for their nuclear programs, the report said.

Shortly before the report was released, the new head of Brazil's nuclear energy commission, Jose Luis de Carvalho Santana, said Brazil will not build a nuclear bomb. But he declined to say whether it had technical ability to do so.

Argentina has repeatedly proclaimed the right to- develop and explode a nuclear device even though experts say it seems far from being able to achieve that goal.

Three weeks ago, Iraq denied any intention of developing nuclear weapons and reaffirmed that denial Monday. It said devices described by U.S. prosecutors as nuclear warhead detonation capacitors allegedly being smuggled to Baghdad were to be used in a non-nuclear university laser project. In mid-March, British investigators arrested four people they claimed had tried to smuggle these devices to Iraq.

The study said Iraq's program was far behind those of the other four countries.