MIDDLE EAST: Israeli officials said yesterday that US Vice President Dick Cheney was trying to send a message to European countries to take a tougher line with Iran when he warned that Israel might strike at Tehran's nuclear facilities.
Mr Cheney on Thursday said that if "the Israelis became convinced theIranians had significant nuclear capability, given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards".
A senior Israeli official told Reuters that the remarks were "intended to tell the Europeans: 'If you don't take a greater role in a policy of implementing sanctions and moving vigorously to stop Iran's nuclear programme, then we are not responsible for what Israel will do.'"
Mr Cheney's comments came just 10 days after Israel's head of military intelligence said he was trying to make the Europeans aware of the extent of the Iranian nuclear threat.
"The Iranians can reach Portugal with nuclear weapons," Maj Gen Aharon Ze'evi said earlier this month. "This doesn't worry the Europeans. They tell me that during the Soviet regime as well they were under a nuclear threat, and I try to explain to them that Iran is a different story."
He also warned that Iran could be capable of enriching uranium within six months and would have atomic weapons within two years.
"According to estimates, Iran is not currently capable of enriching uranium to build a nuclear bomb, but it is only half a year away from achieving such independent capability - if it is not stopped by the West," he said.
Iran says it will suspend uranium enrichment and has insisted its nuclear programme has a purely civilian aim - the generation of electricity. The EU has been using the suspension of trade talks to try and pressure Tehran into increasing the transparency of its nuclear programme.
When Israel felt threatened by a nuclear reactor Saddam Hussein was building in the Iraqi city of Osirak, it sent its bombers in 1981 to knock it out. Earlier this month, President Bush hinted at possible military action against Iran, saying he hoped the issue could be resolved diplomatically, but that he would "never take any option off the table".
Israeli analysts differ over whether Israel or the US could effectively target Iran's nuclear facilities from the air. Unlike those in Iraq in 1981, Tehran's facilities are more spread out and cannot be eliminated by a single strike. Some observers also question whether Mr Bush, bogged down in Iraq, has an appetite for a military excursion in Iran.
Israel is believed to be the only Middle East country with a nuclear capability. The Jewish state has traditionally followed a policy of "nuclear ambiguity", neither denying nor admitting to having nuclear weapons.