Mossad chief warns of Iranian nuclear threat
Atomic threat posed by Iran will soon reach the point of no return
January 24, 2005
Mossad chief Meir Dagan warned Monday that the atomic threat posed by Iran will soon reach the point of no return in a nuclear arms race.
Dagan, reviewing the security
situation for the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told committee
members that Iran is attempting to lead the International Atomic Energy Agency
astray.
According to Dagan, Russia is still helping Iran build its nuclear reactor in
Bushehr.
In addition, Dagan said Iran is encouraging Hezbollah to carry out terror
attacks in Israeli territory, and giving assistance to Palestinian terror
organizations.
Peres: Iran is the central problem of the Mideast
Vice Premier Shimon Peres, responding to reports that Tehran sought to foment
terrorist attacks in order to foil a Israeli-Palestinian truce, said Monday that
Iran constitutes the principal problem of the Middle East, and the center for
terrorism in the region.
Maariv newspaper reported Monday that Iran had "made a decision to do
everything in order to torpedo an understanding between the sides." Since
the relative calm in the West Bank and Gaza began, activists of the pro-Iranian
Hezbollah "have flooded the territories with demands that terrorm attacks
be launched," the daily said.
"Iran is the problem of the Middle East," Peres said.
"It is a group of people who have freed themselves from speaking the truth,
who think that the means justify the ends, and who hide everything they
do," he told Army Radio.
"It is the center of terrorism in the Middle East. It is trying to create a
nuclear option with a religious coloration."
But Peres cautioned against Israel taking on the burden of confrontating Tehran.
"The Iran issue is a global one. Let the world conduct the war. How much do
we need to take upon ourselves."
In any event, Peres continued, diplomatic solutions must be explored by
Washington and others before any decision for military action should be taken.
SOURCE: Haaretz