Israel: Iran "probably" continuing nuclear weapons programme (Roundup)

Dec 4, 2007, 15:03 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israel said Tuesday that Iran was 'probably' continuing its nuclear weapons programme, contradicting a new US intelligence report saying Tehran had halted that programme since 2003.

'It looks like Iran stopped its programme to create an atom bomb in 2003 for a certain time, but as far as we know, it has since probably renewed it,' Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would continue pushing to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

'We will make every effort - first and foremost with our friends in the US - to prevent the production of this type of weapon,' he told reporters before meeting the Italian deputy prime minister.

He said he had discussed the report's findings during meetings with administration officials in Washington last week.

The US intelligence report, the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), released Monday, said Iran had halted its atomic weapons programme in 2003 and seemed less determined to develop nuclear arms than previously believed, but had continued to enrich uranium and could have enough material to build a bomb between 2010 and 2015.

As of the middle of this year Iran has not resumed work on the weapons aspect, while defying the UN Security Council by proceeding with uranium enrichment for civilian use, the NIE said.

The NIE, however, added it would be difficult to persuade Iran's leaders to permanently abandon pursuing nuclear weapons because some of them linked it to Tehran's national security and foreign policy interests.

'We do not have sufficient intelligence to judge confidently whether Tehran is willing to maintain the halt of its nuclear weapons programme indefinitely while it weighs its options,' the NIE said.

Israeli government and defence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Israeli media Monday that Israel feared the report would weaken its push for tougher sanctions against Iran, who it considers its greatest regional strategic threat.

Israel sees the Iranian regime as unstable and unpredictable and regards its acquisition of nuclear weapons as a risk it cannot afford to take.

Iran as a nuclear power would also upset the balance of power in the region and greatly harm Israel's 'power of deterrence,' which it regards as key to preventing attacks on it using weapons of mass destruction.

Barak, asked if the report weakened the case for a US military strike against Iran, said that option continued to exist.

But he added: 'It is not our job to make estimates of this kind about the US position. 'It is our job to speak as little as possible. Words don't stop missiles.'

Circles close to Strategic Affairs Minster Avigdor Lieberman said the Ahmadinejad regime had not become any less dangerous, the US report notwithstanding.

The danger, the circles said, was not just in the nuclear arena, but began with the Iranian leader denying the Holocaust and ended with Tehran arming Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, both of whom deny Israel's right to exist.

The sources said that while there was a gap in US and Israeli estimates about when Iran would obtain nuclear weapons capability, it was not a wide one.

The picture at large had not changed, they said.