Tehran plays down French warning of Israeli attack

NUKEWARS

Israeli president opposes attack on Iran's nuclear sites
Israeli President Shimon Peres said Sunday he opposes a military strike on Iran and prefers the use of international economic sanctions to persuade Tehran to halt its nuclear enrichment programme. "A military operation is not necessary. I do not think the Americans think in these terms because they have many other cards to play," Peres told Israeli public radio after a meeting with US Vice President Dick Cheney in Italy. "If the Americans manage to form a coalition to unify their positions with those of Europeans, they have sufficient means to exert pressure on the Iranians," Peres added. Peres had met Cheney on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti forum on Italy's Lake Como, an international gathering of leaders and experts focused mostly on economic issues. Israel and the West have repeatedly called on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment programme, which they fear is aimed at developing nuclear weapons but which Tehran defends as part of a peaceful energy venture. Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state, has considered Iran its main strategic threat after repeated predictions of its demise by senior Iranian leaders. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said last month after a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Israel would not rule out any options to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Tehran meanwhile risks a possible fourth round of UN sanctions after it failed to give a clear response to an incentives package offered by six major world powers in return for halting uranium enrichment, a process which makes nuclear fuel but also the core of an atomic bomb.

by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Sept 6, 2008
Iran on Saturday played down French President Nicolas Sarkozy's warning this week that it risked being attacked by Israel because of its controversial nuclear programme.

"This regime (Israel) is not in such a position and does not have the capacity to even think about attacking Iran," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.

His remarks came after the French president warned on Thursday that Tehran's determination to press ahead with its nuclear drive risked provoking an Israeli military strike.

"Iran is taking a major risk by continuing the process of seeking nuclear technology for military ends," Sarkozy said at a four-way summit in Damascus with the leaders of Syria, Qatar and Turkey.

"Because one day, no matter which Israeli government is in power, one morning we will awake to find Israel has attacked," he said.

"Is Mr Sarkozy a spokesman for the occupying and counterfeit regime?" Elham asked rhetorically on Saturday. "If so, we advise them not to proceed in that direction," he added, without elaborating.

The United States and its staunch ally Israel -- the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear armed nation -- have never ruled out taking military action against Iran, which they accuse of seeking to make a nuclear bomb.

Iran insists its nuclear activities are aimed solely at generating energy, repeatedly vowing that any attack will be met by a crushing response.

Tehran risks a fourth round of UN sanctions over its failure to abide by international calls to freeze uranium enrichment, a process which makes nuclear fuel but can also be used to build the core of a nuclear weapon.

On Friday Iran also dismissed as "baseless" Sarkozy's comment that Tehran was pursuing its controversial nuclear programme for military purposes.

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NUKEWARS

Iran nuclear program needs political, not military response: Peres

Rome (AFP) Sept 5, 2008
Iran's nuclear program demands a political rather than a military response, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Friday, a day after his French counterpart warned Tehran risked a possible Israeli strike.

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