Iran bomb is world's problem, says Israel

By Jeremy Last and Joseph Millis - Wednesday 9th November 2011


Israel this week said Iran's nuclear ambitions were now the world's problem.

In a statement issued after the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a damning report, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said: "The IAEA report corroborates the position of the international community, and of Israel, that Iran is developing nuclear weapons."

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It added: "The significance of the report is that the international community must bring about the cessation of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons which endanger the peace of the world and of the Middle East."

Israel's Defence Minister this week played down the possibility of an early Israeli strike on Iran, despite a report indicating Tehran was only months away from nuclear capability.

Speaking ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] report on Iran's nuclear activity on Tuesday, Ehud Barak said: "War is not a picnic. We want a picnic. We don't want a war. Israel has not decided to embark on any operation."

He also dismissed speculation that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had chosen such an option. However, he was not optimistic about any international action against Iran, specifically "deadly sanctions", targeting its financial institutions as well as physical sanctions. "I hope it will happen," he said. "We know more [about Iran] than the IAEA does," he added.

Western nuclear experts believe that Iran, which claims its programme is for peaceful means, will be ready to build a nuclear bomb within months if it desires. Tehran calls this a lie, saying it is part of a "US and Zionist plot".

Other experts, who have seen intelligence used in the compilation of the latest report, have said that Tehran already has the know-how, technological means and materials needed to put an atom bomb together. They contend it is all down to a decision by Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These experts have concluded that Russian, Pakistani and North Korean nuclear weapons engineers have been assisting Iran.

The French and Russian foreign ministers warned this week that an Israeli military strike against Iran would cause irreparable damage. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that such a strike against Iran would be a grave mistake with unpredictable consequences. He said: "This would be a serious mistake, fraught with unpredictable consequences. There is no military solution to the Iranian nuclear problem as there is no military solution to any other problem in the modern world."

Lavrov added that talks between Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, Germany and Iran should resume as soon as possible.

His French counterpart, Alain Juppe, said his country was "very worried" about the potential militarisation of Iran's nuclear programme, but opposed any strike because it would destabilise the region.

Days earlier, Israeli President Shimon Peres said the international community was running out of diplomatic options in the battle to prevent Iran going nuclear. In an interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper, Peres said: "The possibility of a military attack against Iran is now closer to being applied than the application of a diplomatic option." However, he added: "We must stay calm and resist pressure so we consider every option."

Earlier this week, Haaretz wrote that US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta did not get a clear commitment from Netanyahu and Barak that Israel would not take action against Iranian nuclear facilities without co-ordinating any such operation with Washington.

A raid on Iran's nuclear facilities would be likely to provoke Tehran into hugely disruptive retaliatory measures in the Gulf that would sever shipping routes and disrupt the flow of oil and gas to export markets, political analysts believe.

Iran is already under four rounds of United Nations sanctions due to concerns about its nuclear programme. Washington is pushing for tighter measures after discovering what it says was an Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

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