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| By israelinsider staff April 28, 2007 |
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After PM Ehud Olmert was quoted in the German magazine Focus Saturday as saying that Iran's nuclear program could be severely hit by an attack of 1,000 cruise missiles fired over 10 days, the Prime Minister's Office has denied making the comments. Olmert's spokesperson, Miri Eisen, said Olmert had spoken to the author of the Focus article, but she said Olmert did not make for publication the comments that were attributed to him. Eisen said the meeting was conducted off the record. "The prime minister did not say these things," she insisted.
The full interview with the prime minister will be published Sunday. Focus magazine said that the interview took place last Wednesday, but sources close to the prime minister told YnetNews that the magazine's Iranian-born reporter, Amir Taheri, was invited for a "closed" meeting only as a representative of the New York Times and London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat. The sources denied that Olmert made the remarks.
According to Focus, Olmert was asked whether military action would be an option if Iran continued to defy the United Nations and said: "Nobody is ruling it out." He continued: "It is impossible perhaps to destroy the entire nuclear program but it would be possible to damage it in such a way that it would be set back years," the Magazine quoted Olmert as saying.
"It would take 10 days and would involve the firing of 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles," Olmert was quoted as saying.
The Prime Minister's Office said Saturday that the interview with Focus never took place. "The statements published are an utter lie and were never said.... This a cynical exploitation of an invitation for a background conversation, which led to the publication of a false report," the office stated.
After the outraged reaction from Olmert, Focus softened the tone of the interview. While the headline initially read "Israel threatens Iran," now it states: "Israel toughens its tone against Iran."
Focus officials admitted that "the impression that was created as if Olmert said that there was an operative plan to strike was exaggerated, and it is now clear that Olmert's statements were not aimed as a threat on Iran."
However, opposition Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz (Likud) criticized the Prime Minister for not controlling his remarks. "Olmert is acting hastily? while causing damage to the state of Israel."
Focus also quoted Olmert as saying UN sanctions should be given a chance to work before military action was considered. "We must give the UN process time to take effect," Olmert is quoted as saying. "We have no intention of attacking Iran at the moment."
Olmert also expressed doubts as to whether Iran's nuclear program was as far advanced as Tehran claimed. An American report said that Iran was expected to have nuclear capability within three years. "I don't think that Iran is about to cross the nuclear technology threshold as its leaders claim," Olmert said. "We still have time to stop them."
Iran faces further sanctions if it does not stop uranium enrichment before a Security Council deadline of May 24. |
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