Israel said on Friday that Iran was very close to being able to make a nuclear bomb and urged the United States and Europe to pressure Tehran to abandon a suspected nuclear arms program. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Reuters an Iranian nuclear bomb would be a "nightmare" for Israel and other countries. "In our view, they are very close, they are too close, to having the knowledge to develop this kind of bomb and that's why we should be in a hurry," Shalom said in an interview on a visit to Mexico.Pakistan acknowledged this week for the first time a disgraced Pakistani scientist at the center of a nuclear black market gave Iran centrifuges which can be used to make atomic weapons. Shalom would not put a date on when Israel thought its bitter foe Iran could have nuclear arms, which he said could eventually take nuclear weapons to the heart of Europe because Tehran is developing new long-range missiles. "The idea that this tyranny of Iran will hold a nuclear bomb is a nightmare not only for us but for the whole world," Shalom said.
Israeli warplanes bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in a daring raid in 1981 to prevent it from making atomic bombs. Observers have speculated Israel might launch a similar strike against Iranian facilities, but Shalom played down the military option against Iran. "We believe that diplomacy is the only way to deal with this issue," he told a meeting of academics and journalists. The United States and Europe launched a coordinated push on Friday to get Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear arms program by offering economic incentives as a carrot and possible U.N. action as a stick. "I am very satisfied with the European and American determination in asking the Iranians to comply with the understanding they achieved with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European countries," Shalom said.
Washington announced it would allow Iran to begin talks on joining the World Trade Organization and would consider allowing it to buy commercial aircraft spare parts, in a major policy shift requested by the Europeans. In return, Britain, France and Germany said they would haul Tehran before the U.N. Security Council if it resumed uranium enrichment and nuclear reprocessing activities. "The only way to do it if the Iranians will not comply is to move it to the Security Council," Shalom said.