WASHINGTON, April 14: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, following talks with US officials on Iran’s nuclear program, said Israel was not planning a military strike on Iran to prevent it from getting the bomb.

“Israel is not leading the struggle.

Of course we exchange intelligence, we exchange views, we discuss (these) issues, but it’s not that we are planning any military attack on Iran,” Mr Sharon told CNN in an interview.

“Of course we take all precautions and all the steps to defend ourselves.

But it’s not that Israel should give the answer to the international problem,” Mr Sharon told Fox News in a separate interview.

Unhappy with European-led diplomatic efforts to win Iranian agreement to curb uranium enrichment — which can be used to produce nuclear arms — Israel has called for UN sanctions instead.

Mr Sharon discussed “Iran’s nuclear threat” in Washington talks with Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday, a senior Israeli official said.

Mr Sharon also raised the issue with President George Bush at his Texas ranch on Monday.

Iran, which has called for the Jewish state’s destruction, says it has no interest in the bomb and wants nuclear power plants to meet booming demand for electricity.

Tehran has frozen its enrichment program, but refuses to relinquish permanently what it sees as a sovereign right to produce low-enriched uranium fuel for nuclear power plants.

“There is a time limit because Iran will soon reach a technological point of no return,” the Israeli official said.—Reuters