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IAEA's Director General Mohamed ElBaradei waits for the start of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation board meeting, Saturday. (AP)
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| By Associated Press February 6, 2006 |
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Israeli leaders on Sunday welcomed the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's decision to send Iran's nuclear program to the Security Council for review.
But behind the scenes, Israeli officials are less pleased by the decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency to link Iran's nuclear ambitions with Israel's own suspected stockpile of atomic weapons, analysts said.
"What I think Israel is against is linking the very crucial Iranian nuclear weapons development program with the other extraneous issues, which have nothing to do with it," said Ephraim Asculai, an analyst at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies.
Israel has long identified Iran as the greatest threat to the Jewish state, accusing Tehran of developing nuclear weapons. Israeli leaders have repeatedly said diplomatic pressure is the best way to end Iran's nuclear program, with military action to be considered only as a last resort.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday lauded the IAEA's decision, saying it was now charged to "ultimately exact a very heavy price from Iran if it persists with these plans and tries to enrich fuel so it can realize its option to build non-conventional weapons."
Tehran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, and designed only to produce energy. Israel disputes that, and has grown especially concerned following Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls for Israel's destruction.
In negotiations over the wording of the IAEA decision, Egypt sought to include a clause calling for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Egypt and other Arab states have long linked demands on Iran to dispel suspicions about its atomic ambitions with demands that Israel give up nuclear arms.
Compromise wording made no specific reference to Israel, but alluded to it in stating that "a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and ... the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction."
Experts say Israel has the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Israel neither acknowledges or denies having such a program.
Israel's long-standing policy has been that it supports a nuclear-free zone - but only after comprehensive peace in the region has been reached.
Mark Regev, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Israel doesn't see a linkage in the decision between the Iranian nuclear program and Israel.
"On the contrary, we see a resolution that is taking the Iranian issue to the U.N. Security Council, which is something we support," Regev said.
But analysts said the connection was clear, though they said the wording of the decision would have no practical effect on Israel.
"I think this was a concession to Egypt so Egypt would vote together with the U.S. and Western states: If you're going to put pressure on Iran, you're going to have to have something that will relate to Israel," said Emily Landau, director of the arms control and regional security project at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv.
Uzi Arad, director of Israel's Institute of Policy and Strategy, said that with Mideast peace prospects unlikely, pressure on Israel to eliminate nuclear arms is not on the international agenda.
"I'm quite confident that all serious and responsible countries would concentrate on the Iranian case being on of a serious breach of its international commitments, and being by far the most serious and immediate threat to Middle East and stability," he said.
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