Israel: Iran is clear and present danger

JERUSALEM – AFP- Israel regards Iran as a “clear and present” danger, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Wednesday after the Islamic republic’s hardline president called for the Jewish state to wiped off the map.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Shalom said it was clear that Iran was trying to develop an atomic weapons capability.

“We believe that Iran is trying to buy time... so it can develop a nuclear bomb,” said Shalom, adding he believed “Iran is a clear and present danger”.

Speaking at a conference in Teheran entitled: “The World without Zionism”, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel’s establishment was “a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world”.

“As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” added Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran’s late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Shalom said Teheran had consistently shown its desire to wipe out Israel.

“This is not the first time that this regime has wished for the destruction of the state of Israel,” he said in remarks to reporters after the press conference.

“This kind of regime is very, very extreme and it would be a nightmare for all the international community if they had a nuclear bomb.

“We believe that the time has come to move the Iranian file to the (UN) Security Council and the sooner the better.”