Sharon Denies Any Plan to Bomb Iranian Nuclear Plants

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appeared to rule out a unilateral military strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying Wednesday that any response to fears that Tehran is seeking to develop atomic weapons must be an international effort that his country would not lead.

Asked in a televised interview whether he had ruled out an attack on Iran, Sharon said, “We don’t think that’s what we have to do.

“We exchange views [with other nations], we discuss these issues, but it’s not that we are planning any military attack on Iran.”

His comments came after two days of meetings with top U.S. officials, including President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Cheney in January raised the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran. On Inauguration Day he said that although Iran was at the top of the administration’s list of global trouble spots, Israel “might well decide to act first” and let others “worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterward.”

For the United States, Israel and many moderate Arab states in the Middle East region, a nuclear-armed Iran would be a political calamity that could threaten the region’s stability and possibly trigger efforts by nearby nations to match Tehran’s capabilities.

Although Sharon said he was not planning an attack on Iran, he claimed in the same interview, on CNN’s “Wolf Blitzer Reports,” to have intelligence that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons. He suggested that it would not take long for the country to master the technology needed to produce such arms, although he said Iranian scientists had recently run into difficulties.

“They have some problems,” Sharon said. “In order to overcome them, they are making every effort. [There is] no doubt that they are working now in order to possess a nuclear weapon, which we regard to be a great danger, not only for Israel, but for Europe and the United States.”

In a daring 1981 raid on Iraq, Israeli aircraft destroyed a nuclear reactor south of Baghdad that was being built with French help. The Israelis believed the reactor would be used to produce nuclear weapons that then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein planned to use against them.

Military analysts tend to concur that a similar attack on Iranian nuclear targets would be far more difficult to carry out and have a much lower probability of success, in part because Iran’s nuclear facilities are dispersed. Some are also believed to be in well-fortified underground sites.

Sharon’s comments followed discussions on the Iranian nuclear threat during talks Monday with Bush at his ranch near Crawford, Texas, administration officials said. Iran denies that it is seeking nuclear weapons, saying it is trying to develop a peaceful nuclear power program.

But the Bush administration has expressed skepticism about Iran’s stated intentions.

Iran claims the right to produce such materials under the terms of the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

But its failure to report key elements of its uranium enrichment program to the International Atomic Energy Agency, as required by the accord, has heightened suspicion that Tehran is secretly attempting to build a nuclear weapon.

Bush recently reversed U.S. policy on Iran, supporting efforts by European allies Germany, France and Britain to negotiate an agreement that would provide Tehran with security guarantees, economic incentives and internationally safeguarded enriched uranium for the production of nuclear power. In return, Iran would be expected to abandon efforts to produce enriched uranium on its own.

So far, these negotiations have produced no agreement, and it is believed that Sharon attempted to convey a sense of urgency to Bush during the talks in Texas.

During Bush’s first term in office, U.S. officials sought to isolate Iran, demanding that the country’s leaders give up all nuclear ambitions or face action, including possible sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.

That approach failed because the administration was unable to gather enough support within the IAEA to refer the case to the council.

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan underscored the administration’s commitment both to the European initiative and to a diplomatic solution of the issue.

“We all have a shared goal of making sure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon,” McClellan told reporters. “We want to see this resolved in a peaceful way and that’s what we’re pursing.”

McClellan described the Sharon-Bush talks on Iran as part of “ongoing discussions” between the U.S. and Israel on the issue.

“We have concerns about Iran’s intentions, and we have talked about that with Israel previously,” he said.

In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in February, Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said Iran could obtain the ability to produce nuclear weapons in 10 years “unless constrained by a nuclear nonproliferation agreement.”