Nuclear Iran is threat to whole world: Israel
Source: http://www.zeenews.com
April 12, 2006 Author: zeenews
Jerusalem, Apr 12: Iran's announcement that it has successfully enriched uranium should worry not just israel but the entire world, the Israeli military's chief of staff said today.
"This announcement is worrying for everyone as we have seen with the international reaction," General Dan Halutz told army radio.
A nuclear-powered Iran "represents a threat to the whole world and not only Israel," added Halutz.
The Jewish state has come to view the regime in Tehran as its number one enemy, alarmed in particular by a call last year from hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Israel to be wiped off the map.
Ahmadinejad called in a speech yesterday for a no-holds-barred acceleration of enrichment work -- a process that can be extended to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.
His comments came after Iran's Atomic Energy Chief Gholam Reza Aghazadeh had told the same conference that nuclear scientists had managed to enrich the uranium to 3.5 per cent, or the purity required for civilian reactor fuel.
Halutz said that Iran was still some way off from being in a position to develop nuclear weapons.
"The Iranians are not there yet. Time is an essential element in the diplomatic process, and I believe that things will change during this process," said Halutz, who is of Iranian origin.
The head of Israeli military intelligence also said that the international community should be sceptical about how far down the road Iran was in developing its nuclear programme.
Bureau Report
