Israeli foreign minister says no plans to strike Iran
15:1703/06/2009 MOSCOW, June 3 (RIA Novosti) - Israel has no plans to launch a missile attack on Iran despite the global threat of Tehran's nuclear program, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
"We will not bomb Iran... We do not want a global problem to be solved by our hand," Avigdor Lieberman said at a news conference in Moscow.
He warned the international community that Iran's accession to the nuclear club would spark an arms race in the Middle East which in turn could pose a threat to the entire world order.
At a meeting with Lieberman on Tuesday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Tehran "to assure the international community of the exclusively peaceful nature of [its] nuclear program."
The West has accused Iran of secretly pursuing a nuclear weapons program, but the Islamic Republic says it needs nuclear power solely for civilian purposes.
Lieberman added that Israel was a strong country that could protect itself if need be and that it posed no threat to any Arab state.
"The major confrontation in the Middle East.. is not between Israel and the Palestinians, or between Israel and Arab nations, but within the Islamic world," the Israeli top diplomat said.
Talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority stalled following an Israeli offensive on Gaza in December which left some 1,300 Palestinians dead and 5,000 others injured.
U.S. President Barack Obama has pushed for a two-state solution to the conflict, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a tougher stance toward the Palestinians, in contrast to his predecessor Ehud Olmert's support for Palestinian statehood.
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