Israel stressed to Bush that Iran is a nuclear 'threat': general
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Iran poses a real nuclear threat and Israel made that point clear to US President George W. Bush during his visit this week, an Israeli defence official said Saturday.
"We tried hard to present him the situation as we see it," Amos Gilad, reserve general and political adviser to Defence Minister Ehud Barak, told Israel's public radio.
"From a professional point of view the situation is clear: there is an Iranian nuclear threat," Gilad said.
"After deep scrutiny, the intellience services reached the same conclusion -- Iran is striving to obtain nuclear weapons," he added.
Bush said on Wednesday that Iran posed "a threat to world peace" and should not be allowed to develop the know-how to build a nuclear weapon.
Iran vehemently denies seeking atomic weapons and insists that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and aimed at energy generation.
A US intelligence report in December said that Iran halted a nuclear weapons programme in 2003.
Gilad did not rule out a military strike against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, saying "we must consider all the options."
"For now we prefer the diplomatic option. But as the US president has often said, all options are on the table," he said.
