Middle East Online 07 Giugno 2008

Israel deputy PM says if Tehran pursues its nuclear programme, Tel Aviv will attack

TEL AVIV: An Israeli deputy prime minister on Friday warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons programme.

"If Iran continues its nuclear weapons programme, we will attack it," said Shaul Mofaz, who is also transportation minister.

"Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective.
There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear programme," Mofaz told the Yediot Aharonot daily.

He stressed such an operation could only be conducted with US support.

A former defence minister and armed forces chief of staff, Mofaz hopes to replace embattled Ehud Olmert as prime minister and at the helm of the Kadima party.

Despite the Israeli allegations, there is no evidence that Iran has a nuclear ‘weapons’ programme and a recent US intelligence report suggested the opposite.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is civilian while Israel is the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons.