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Iran Sees Israel as Target for Annihilation: Olmert

Posted on: Thursday, 4 May 2006, 05:20 CDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Iran sees Israel as a target for annihilation, Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday, adding that the Jewish state could defend itself in the face of Tehran's emerging nuclear program.

"We must not ignore what the president of Iran says -- he means everything he says," Olmert told parliament ahead of a vote of confidence in his new coalition government.

"The State of Israel, which the evil leaders in Tehran have turned into a target for annihilation, is not helpless and it has the ability to defend itself against any threat."

Iran says it seeks nuclear energy, not bombs. But remarks by its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for the elimination of Israel and questioning whether the genocide of Jews during World War Two took place, have stoked Israeli concerns.

The war of words has fueled speculation Israel could strike Iran's nuclear facilities. In 1981, it bombed the Iraqi reactor at Osiraq, driving Saddam Hussein's quest for nuclear weapons underground until it was uncovered by U.N. inspectors.

Believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, Israel backs U.S.-led efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program through possible U.N. Security Council sanctions. But, like Washington, Israel has refused to rule out military action.

Olmert's remarks were quickly endorsed by Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called for an Osiraq-like preemptive strike on Iran.

Tehran has said its armed forces would retaliate for any attack. An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said this week that Israel would be targeted, although this was later played down by the deputy chief of military staff.

Source: REUTERS

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