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12-12-2005, 12:25 PM
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Israel denies plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities (http://search.gulfnews.com/articles.htm)
http://search.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10004159.html
12/11/2005 11:24 PM | Agencies
Jerusalem: Israel denied a British report that Israel has plans to attack Iran in March, though officials conceded that they would not rule out a military strike if Iran advances in efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
The reaction came in response to a report in London's Sunday Times that said Israel has a plan for attacking targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to stop the Iranian nuclear programme.
Sharon's inner Cabinet authorised the attack in a meeting last month, the newspaper said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's national security adviser, Giora Eiland, dismissed the report as "unfounded speculation."
"Israel is acting against Iran through diplomatic means," he said.
Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, a close confidant of Sharon, called the report "ridiculous."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said Israel won't lead the international battle against the Iranian nuclear programme, and officials say all diplomatic means must be exhausted before military action is considered.
Sharon said earlier this month that the ability to take out Iran's nuclear programme by force "of course exists."
Israel has identified Iran as the greatest threat to the Jewish state and rejects Iran's claims that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Recent calls by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to "wipe Israel off the map" and move the Jewish state to Europe have added to those concerns.
"Israel can't live in a situation in which Iran has the atomic bomb," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Sunday.
A senior Defense Ministry official said on Sunday that Israel has not ruled out a military strike if Tehran advances with its nuclear programme.
"Right now the situation requires the focus on the international issue of protecting the peace of the world," Major General Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's foreign policy department, told Israel Radio.
"But it isn't correct to say that a country that is threatened should deny that it will ever consider a different option."
The chairman of the Israeli parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval Steinitz, suggested that Israel knew where Iran was conducting its nuclear programme.
"Israel has acted well in regards to intelligence and deployed accordingly," Steinitz told Army Radio. But he would not say if Israel should strike these areas to halt the Iranian programme.
On Saturday, when the UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammad Al Baradei received the Nobel Peace Prize, he appeared to warn Israel not to bomb Iranian atomic reactors.
"You cannot use force to prevent a country from obtaining nuclear weapons. By bombing them half to death, you can only delay the plans," he was quoted as saying by the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. "But they will come back, and they will demand revenge."
(http://search.gulfnews.com/home/index.html#)
http://search.gulfnews.com/images/templates/line_horz_g.gif
Israel denies plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities (http://search.gulfnews.com/articles.htm)
http://search.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10004159.html
12/11/2005 11:24 PM | Agencies
Jerusalem: Israel denied a British report that Israel has plans to attack Iran in March, though officials conceded that they would not rule out a military strike if Iran advances in efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
The reaction came in response to a report in London's Sunday Times that said Israel has a plan for attacking targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to stop the Iranian nuclear programme.
Sharon's inner Cabinet authorised the attack in a meeting last month, the newspaper said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's national security adviser, Giora Eiland, dismissed the report as "unfounded speculation."
"Israel is acting against Iran through diplomatic means," he said.
Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, a close confidant of Sharon, called the report "ridiculous."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said Israel won't lead the international battle against the Iranian nuclear programme, and officials say all diplomatic means must be exhausted before military action is considered.
Sharon said earlier this month that the ability to take out Iran's nuclear programme by force "of course exists."
Israel has identified Iran as the greatest threat to the Jewish state and rejects Iran's claims that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Recent calls by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to "wipe Israel off the map" and move the Jewish state to Europe have added to those concerns.
"Israel can't live in a situation in which Iran has the atomic bomb," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Sunday.
A senior Defense Ministry official said on Sunday that Israel has not ruled out a military strike if Tehran advances with its nuclear programme.
"Right now the situation requires the focus on the international issue of protecting the peace of the world," Major General Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's foreign policy department, told Israel Radio.
"But it isn't correct to say that a country that is threatened should deny that it will ever consider a different option."
The chairman of the Israeli parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval Steinitz, suggested that Israel knew where Iran was conducting its nuclear programme.
"Israel has acted well in regards to intelligence and deployed accordingly," Steinitz told Army Radio. But he would not say if Israel should strike these areas to halt the Iranian programme.
On Saturday, when the UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammad Al Baradei received the Nobel Peace Prize, he appeared to warn Israel not to bomb Iranian atomic reactors.
"You cannot use force to prevent a country from obtaining nuclear weapons. By bombing them half to death, you can only delay the plans," he was quoted as saying by the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. "But they will come back, and they will demand revenge."