The Finnish presidency of the European Union has urged Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to explain his apparent admission that the Jewish state maintains nuclear arms. "I think that Mr Olmert must explain more fully what this information means," Finnish Defence Minister Seppo Kaariainen told German newspaper Berliner Zeitung.
According to Kaariainen, he hoped Olmert's remarks will not have a negative effect on the UN-led peacekeeping force deployed in Lebanon following the summer war between the Israeli army and Hizbullah. "I hope above all else that the international crisis management that began in Lebanon in the summer can be continued without interference.
"The EU will be watching very closely to see what reaction the Israeli explanation provokes."
In an interview with a German television station on Monday, Olmert said "We never threatened any nation with annihilation." "Iran openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as France, America, Russia and Israel?" he asked.
These comments by Olmert were in contrast to Israel's policy of "nuclear ambiguity".
