Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told reporters that despite his fears that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons, his country had no intention of planning any attack on Iran in the future.
The statement, made in a recent interview with American news magazine <i>Newsweek</i>, comes shortly after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel should be wiped off the map.
Mofaz stressed that diplomatic means should be used to resolve the Iranian nuclear controversy, not force. “I believe for the time being the diplomatic channel is the main one, and the United States along with the European countries should put this on the table of the U.N. Security Council," he told reporters.
“I can tell you that what Ahmadinejad said about erasing the state of Israel from the map, combined with Iran’s surface-to-surface missiles and the fact that they have a high desire for achieving nuclear power, is a real threat against the state of Israel but also against all the Western countries. Under the nuclear umbrella in the future (Iran) will be a threat to all the world,” he said.
Mofaz added that despite Israel's belief in a possible threat to it from Iran, an international threat also existed, and therefore it is up to the West to work toward resolving the issue.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
