Israeli army chief fears diplomatic pressure on Iran would fail

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz warned on Sunday that the ongoing diplomatic pressure on Iran's nuclear ambitions would fail.

"The fact that the Iranians are successful time after time in getting away from international pressure...encourages them to continue their nuclear project," Halutz told foreign reporters.

"I believe that the political means that are used by the Europeans and the United States to convince the Iranians to stop the project will not succeed," Halutz stressed.

An Iranian news agency reported on Sunday that Iran would begin construction on two nuclear reactors beginning in March.

The report added that an Iranian parliamentarian confirmed that one of the reactors would be funded by Russia with a cost of 1 billion US dollars, Israel Army Radio said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear power, but Israel is not in the vanguard of efforts to block Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"It's clear that we can't have a situation where Iran will become a nuclear power," Sharon said at a weekly cabinet meeting.

"Israel is not spearheading the process, but it is definitely a partner to countries concerned by this dangerous development," Sharon added.

There have been concerns over Iran's nuclear programs among top Israeli military officials.

Last week, Military Intelligence Chief Major General Aharon Ze' evi said diplomacy would have failed if Iran was still working on producing nuclear weapons by March.

"If by the end of March 2006, the international community does not manage to use diplomatic means to block Iran's effort to produce a nuclear bomb, there will no longer be any reason to continue diplomatic activity in this field, and it will be possible to say that the international attempts to thwart (Iran's efforts) have failed," Ze'evi said.

The European Union and Iran have been engaged in off-and-on talks over the nuclear issue.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said talks between Iran and the European countries, which had broken down in August after Tehran restarted uranium conversion, would resume later this month after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) decided on Nov. 24 to postpone the referral of Iran's nuclear file to the United Nations Security Council to provide extra time for a peaceful solution to the issue.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Tehran was optimistic about the resumed talks.

"If Europeans respect our right, we are optimistic about Iranian-European talks," Hamid said.

Source: Xinhua