TEL AVIV, July 6: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Tuesday his country's policy of refusing to confirm or deny that it has nuclear weapons would continue. The statement preceded the arrival of the UN's atomic energy agency chief.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected to ask for help in ridding the Middle East of nuclear weapons during his visit, despite Israel allegedly being the only state in the region to have the bomb.

Mr Baradei's chief spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said that the IAEA chief would not hesitate to be "forthright" in his discussions with Israeli leaders, including Sharon, but played down expectations of a dramatic breakthrough.

Mr ElBaradei "is a very forthright interlocutor, wherever he travels around the world. He is one of the few people who could travel to Tripoli, Tehran, Baghdad as well as Tel Aviv.

The point is how many guys can do that," Gwozdecky told reporters covering the visit. "He doesn't have a standard that he has to reach for this visit. He understands the objectives are ambitious and are not going to be achieved overnight but he is willing to invest the time necessary to make progress," Mr Gwozdecky added. -AFP