Israel "cannot tolerate nuclear option for Iran: Mofaz

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned that Israel will not tolerate a "nuclear option" for Iran, while reaffirming his commitment to diplomacy in the nuclear standoff.

"We are giving priority at this stage to diplomatic action... but in any case we cannot tolerate a nuclear option for Iran and we must prepare ourselves," Mofaz said at a symposium in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

"We must develop the option of our defense with all that implies," Mofaz said without providing further details.

"We must treat the (Iranian) threat responsibly and with utmost seriousness," Mofaz said, renewing accusations that Tehran was supporting "terrorism" by funding militant groups.

"Iran gives (Lebanese Shiite group) Hezbollah 100 million dollars per year, and part of this money goes to Palestinian terrorist groups," he said.

"In addition, Iran is the primary source of money for Islamic Jihad which committed the majority of suicide attacks against Israel last year."

The defense minister's remarks came after interim prime minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel would not let anyone who threatened its existence obtain weapons of mass destruction.

"Israel cannot allow in any way or at any stage someone who has such hostile intentions against us to obtain weapons that could threaten our existence, " Olmert said in talks with President Moshe Katsav.

Israel has come to view the Islamic republic in Tehran as its number one enemy and its fears were heightened when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in October called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map."

Iran faces the threat of being referred to the UN Security Council for resuming sensitive nuclear fuel research work that Israel and the Western powers fear would give the regime the know-how to build a bomb.

Tehran insists such work is legal given it has signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has branded atomic weapons "un-Islamic".

Like Mofaz, Olmert also stressed that a diplomatic solution was still possible.

Mofaz blamed arch enemies Iran and Syria on Friday for a Palestinian suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that wounded 19 and has escalated tension just days before a legislative election in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Iran said on Saturday that the allegations were baseless.

The Jewish state has never acknowledged the existence of a nuclear arsenal, though it is widely believed to possess hundreds of atomic weapons.

Israel's Mofaz: Ahmedinejad spells Iran's disaster

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned the people of Iran on Saturday that their president would bring disaster and suffering upon them if he continued to call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

He also said Israel was preparing to protect itself if international diplomatic efforts failed to convince Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Speaking at the Herzliya conference, an annual gathering of politicians and academics, Iranian-born Mofaz said he knew a large portion of the Iranian people did not support President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's ideology.

Mofaz addressed the Iranian people saying: "Ahmedinejad, his hallucinatory statements, his criminal actions and his extreme views will bring disaster upon you. Do what you understand needs to be done in order to prevent this."

Mofaz, who was speaking in Hebrew, said Ahmedinejad should look at historical examples of others who tried to destroy the Jewish people.

"You, who are leading your country in an ideology of hatred, terror and anti-Semitism. You had better take a glance at history and see what became of tyrants like you who tried to annihilate the Jewish people. They only brought destruction upon their own people," he said.

Ahmedinejad has said that Israel should be "wiped off the map" and has questioned whether the Holocaust took place.

Mofaz said that 2006 was a "year of transition" during which Iran would not yet have a nuclear bomb, but that Israel would have to do all it could to make sure the United States and European nations maintained diplomatic pressure on the Iranians.

The United States and European Union want Iran's nuclear program to be referred to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, and accuse Tehran of seeking nuclear bombs.

Iran says its nuclear program is purely for generating electricity.

"Israel's policy is ... to bring this hot potato to the Security Council to impose sanctions and invasive inspection," Mofaz said.

He said Israel would nevertheless continue its preparations to protect itself if diplomatic means against Iran failed.

"Israel must be capable of protecting itself and ... we are preparing for this," he said.

Mofaz also renewed an accusation that Iran was directly involved in funding, arming, training and encouraging Palestinian militant groups to attack Israel.

"Money is the fuel which drives terror. The annual financial support to (Lebanon-based) Hizbollah stands at some $100 million," Mofaz said.

He said in the last year Islamic Jihad, a militant group sworn to Israel's destruction based in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, had received over $10 million of Iranian money compared to some $5 million the year before.

Iran says it gives only moral support to Palestinian groups.