WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. would cancel a nuclear energy agreement with the United Arab Emirates if the Middle East nation were to violate any terms of the deal, an Obama administration official said Wednesday.

Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, sought to convince lawmakers that the pact is designed to keep sensitive technology from flowing to Iran or allowing the UAE to develop atomic weapons.

"We have set a very high bar," Tauscher told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The administration approved plans in May to help the UAE become the first Arab country with a civilian nuclear power industry that would fuel its growing demand for electricity.

The U.S. is promoting the deal as a counterweight to Iran's pursuit of atomic weapons and a model for others in the Middle East to follow.

Under the pact, the UAE must import, rather than produce, fuel for its nuclear reactors. It also has committed not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel for plutonium, which is used in nuclear bombs.

The agreement would run for 30 years and create the legal framework for the U.S. to transfer nuclear equipment, reactors and materiel for civil nuclear research to the UAE. The pact was signed in January by the departing Bush administration, which left the final decision to President Barack Obama.

Congress has until Oct. 17 to pass legislation either amending or rejecting the deal. If no bill passes, the agreement goes into effect.

Concerns have been raised about the UAE's history as a transshipment point for material intended for Iran's nuclear program. Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups have used financial networks in the UAE to launder money, critics also say.

While the UAE has taken steps to combat terrorist financing and tighten its export control laws, it's too soon to enter into such a major deal, they said.

The UAE has a "long history of complicity or negligence regarding trade with Iran and other countries of concern," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.

Tauscher said the UAE is a trusted ally and will follow the highest nonproliferation standards.

"This is not a risk reward situation," Tauscher said. "We think that this is a very good deal for us when it comes to nonproliferation and national security concerns."

The committee chairman, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said the agreement was "the best one" the U.S. ever has negotiated with an ally. But he also had concerns about how aggressively the UAE has cracked down on controlling illegal shipments through its ports.