MOSCOW, Oct 18: Visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday stepped up rhetoric against Iran, saying the its controversial nuclear programme could be prevented through intimidation.
Speaking to reporters following meetings with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, Mr Olmert said he had told Mr Putin that ‘there was no chance of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear arms if Iran is not afraid.
“The Iranians should be afraid that something they don’t want to happen will occur.”
Mr Olmert went on to say that ‘I made it clear why in my opinion it is important that the Iranians are afraid’, but he fell short of mentioning what measures that be taken against Tehran.
He nevertheless sought a tougher Russian stance against Iran, where Russian engineers are building the country’s first reactor.
“We are at a critical juncture and the entire international community must join ranks to block Iran’s true intention of arming itself with nuclear weapons,” Olmert told journalists after talks with Putin in the Kremlin.
“I leave this meeting with the sense that President Putin understands that danger.”
Olmert described Iran’s atomic project — which Tehran insists is restricted to a civilian power programme — as ‘a threat to Israel which we cannot reconcile ourselves to’.
The Israeli leader later held talks with Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as well as meeting Jewish community leaders.
Russia is constructing Iran’s first civilian nuclear power station at Bushehr and has resisted a push for UN sanctions, arguing these could provoke a regional crisis. Moscow also supplies the Islamic republic with sophisticated conventional weapons.
Backed by its US ally, Israel says sanctions are necessary following Tehran’s failure to suspend uranium enrichment, a process Israel, the United States and several European powers say hides a secret nuclear weapons programme.
Israel — widely considered the Middle East’s sole, if undeclared nuclear weapons power — considers Iran its chief foe, pointing to calls from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to wipe the Jewish state off the map and alleged Iranian backing for the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and Palestinian militant groups.
Olmert’s trip marked the 15th anniversary of the renewal of diplomatic ties between Russia and Israel, following the Soviet collapse. Although tensions over Moscow’s ties with Iran and Syria topped the agenda, both leaders stressed their countries’ close relationship.
Putin said after talks that the struggles against “terror, extremism and nationalist disputes” united the two countries. The Russian foreign ministry issued a statement praising joint efforts “against modern challenges and threats, including the fight against international terrorism.”
Olmert hailed Russia as a “dominant and crucial factor in the world” and recalled that Putin had promised during his visit to Israel last year that “Russia’s relations in the Middle East will no longer be one-sided.”
Iran is not the only sticking point, however.
Israel also claims that Russian weaponry sold to Syria has been passed on to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, who allegedly used the latest Russian-made anti-tank rockets to deadly effect during fighting with the Israeli army in July and August. Moscow has also raised eyebrows in both Israel and the United States by maintaining contacts with the radical Palestinian movement Hamas.
