Iran government survival hinges on nuclear issue: Israel

Allyn Fisher-Ilan
HERZILYA, Israel
Wed Feb 3, 2010 1:43pm EST

HERZILYA, Israel (Reuters) - World powers trying to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program must make clear to the leadership in Tehran that its survival is at stake, a senior Israeli official said Wednesday.

Israel, alarmed at the prospect of Iran having atomic weapons, has endorsed diplomatic pressure on Tehran but fears new sanctions may be too weak to dissuade it from producing enriched uranium.

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said unrest inside Iran since a disputed presidential election in June had made the government vulnerable.

"In essence, the Iranian regime must be given the choice: either a bomb or survival," Yaalon, a retired chief of Israel's armed forces, told a national security conference in Herzliya.

He said the Tehran government should be persuaded "that giving up the idea of crossing the (nuclear) threshold is the preferable path, or else it risks its basic interest, to survive in power."

Yaalon did not offer specific suggestions, although he noted Iran slowed down its nuclear program in 2003, the year a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in response to allegations its leader Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.

Israeli officials have privately voiced hope that the United States and European powers will overcome resistance by Russia and China to new U.N. Security Council sanctions capable of hitting Iran's energy sector.

Some in Israel want the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to do more to bolster Iranian dissidents who oppose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Israel, assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, has hinted at the possibility of pre-emptive strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities if it believes diplomacy has failed.

Many political analysts believe Israel would be loath to act against the wishes of the United States, which has spoken out against the idea of igniting a new regional conflict.

"It is important to continue to make clear to the extremist Iranian regime that all options are still on the table and that ignoring the international demands can end in the worst way," Yaalon said.

"Despite the time that has been wasted on diplomatic efforts and the like ... Iran may still be stopped," he said. "The coming period will be decisive for the chances to achieve it."

Iran says its plans to enrich uranium, a process that can be used to make bomb fuel, are for peaceful purposes only.

(Editing by Dan Williams and Andrew Dobbie)

Israel, the rogue state that refuses to let IAEA inspect their secret WMD nuclear weapons facilities dares to demand Iran do what Israel itself refuses to do. The scary thing is Israel will probably get its way--because of the fear of control of Middle East oil resources going to the Muslim nations that own it.