Press TV – June 7, 2008
Israeli infrastructure minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer has threatened to obliterate Iran if Tehran even dreams of attacking Israel.
"We must tell them: If you so much as dream of attacking Israel, before you even finish dreaming there won't be an Iran anymore," Eliezer told the Israeli public radio on Saturday.
"Iran should know the price it will have to pay when it begins to think concretely about attacking Israel," he added.
He also rapped the international community for what he called paying lip service to Tehran over its nuclear program, accusing world countries of having 'resigned to Iran's development of nuclear weapons'.
"Hundreds of European and American firms, and I'm not even talking about the Chinese and North Koreans, are doing business with Iran day and night," the official said.
Also on Friday, Israeli deputy prime minister Shaoul Mofaz hinted that Tel Aviv might launch a military attack on Iran if Tehran continues with its 'nuclear weapons program'.
The US and Israel accuse Iran of developing nuclear arms, an allegation dismissed by Tehran as baseless.
Israeli officials have stepped up their war rhetoric against the Islamic Republic in recent months.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei, however, has warned against a military option in dealing with Iran.
"One undermines the international treaty framework with unilateral military action," ElBaradei told Der Spiegel.
According to a recent UN nuclear watchdog report, there is no link between the use of nuclear material and 'the alleged studies' of weaponization attributed to Iran by Western countries.
Iran argues that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it is entitled to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and insists that it has every intention of exercising its rights to running a peaceful nuclear program.
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Also see: "WIPED OFF THE MAP" - The Rumor of the Century
Last updated 09/06/2008
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