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Iran bomb may throw ME into nuke race: Israel

[righand99]

Iran bomb may throw ME into nuke race: Israel Thursday, May 11, 2006 LONDON, May 11 - The Middle East could be plunged into a nuclear arms race if the international community fails to stop Iran acquiring atomic weapons, the head of Israel's national security council said, AFP reported. Giora Eiland said that the international community has only several months left to exhaust diplomatic efforts to end the Iranian nuclear crisis. "The chance to achieve a political solution to the problem is still relevant," General Eiland told reporters, adding however that "we are entering a very crucial time that can be measured in months." "The international community has a few months to try to reach some reasonable solution to the problem that would at least bring the Iranians to accept the notion of the suspension of its activities." Israel has come to view Iran as its chief enemy since the 2003 downfall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, alarmed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call that the Jewish state be erased from the map. While Iran insists that its nuclear work is only designed to meet energy needs, Israel and the West believe it is a front to develop nuclear weapons, claims denied by Tehran. According to Eiland, once Iran reaches a nuclear bomb, "every crisis and conflict in the Middle East -- whether Israel is or is not involved, is going to take place under an Iranian nuclear umbrella." Such a reality would throw the entire Middle East and other Muslim countries into a nuclear arms race that would redefine the scope of local conflicts. "If Iran has nuclear weapons, then from that point a real nuclear race will begin in the Middle East," he said. "Many other countries in the region will say 'if Iran has nuclear weapons, then why shouldn't we have them?'" Israel is considered to be the only country in the region to already possess a nuclear arsenal, estimated at some 200 nuclear warheads, although the Jewish state has never denied nor confirmed it holds such weapons. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is due to travel to Washington on May 21 ahead of talks with President George W. Bush in which the Iranian nuclear crisis is expected to take centre stage.