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07/07/2004:

"Iran, Syria, Say Israel is a Threat"

Reuters
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Two of Israel's most prominent regional enemies, Iran and Syria, on Wednesday used the current visit to Israel of the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog to assail the Jewish state over its presumed nuclear arsenal.

Iran accused Israel of focusing its talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Tehran's atomic program to divert attention from Israel's own nuclear weaponry, estimated at up to 200 warheads.

Syria said ElBaradei's visit "casts light on ... the Israeli threat to international security."

ElBaradei, on a three-day visit to Israel, urged Israeli officials on Wednesday to consider holding serious talks on a nuclear weapons-free Middle East.

He told reporters the officials he met had voiced concern about the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions, saying they feared Iran was pursuing nuclear arms which it might use against Israel.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the Israelis were pointing the finger at Iran in an attempt to avoid censure for Israel's nuclear weapons program.

"The Zionist regime's claims about Iran's nuclear program are aimed at veiling its own nuclear activity and avoiding revealing its nuclear secrets to the IAEA," state television quoted him as saying.

"The shameful ignoring of international demands by the Zionist regime indicates this regime is stubborn about accepting any obligation to have even the least transparent cooperation with the IAEA," he added.

"STRATEGIC AMBIGUITY"

Under a policy of "strategic ambiguity" Israel refuses to admit or deny having nuclear weapons. International experts estimate it has between 100 and 200 warheads.

Unlike Iran, it has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and therefore does not have to let IAEA inspectors into its nuclear facilities.full article