Israel reacts warily to Iran's nuclear progress

JERUSALEM, Apr 12 (Reuters) Israel reacted cautiously today to news of Iran's successful enrichment of uranium, saying that while a threat to the Jewish state existed, diplomacy remained the best way of trying to rein in Tehran.

Elder statesman Shimon Peres said that Iran's announcement was ''worrying and frustrating'', but patience was needed.

''The United States has placed this issue at the top of its agenda. I do not recommend that we should be involved,'' he told Israel Radio. ''I am sure the United States is aware of the expected danger and the matter is in its hands.'' Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who announced yesterday that Iran had produced low-grade enriched uranium suitable for power stations, threatened last year to ''wipe Israel off the map'', provoking international condemnation.

Iran's announcement is a serious setback to efforts by the UN Security Council to have Tehran halt its enrichment work. The latest developments could now prompt Western powers, who fear Iran is planning to build nuclear weapons, to consider imposing sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Washington would be discussing the way forward with other members of the Security Council, but gave no timeframe.

NO BOMB YET Given US efforts to curb Iran's nuclear plans through international diplomacy, experts say Israel will have to shelve any plans for a go-it-alone mission like the 1981 bombing sortie that destroyed Iraq's atomic reactor at Osiraq.

Israel's chief of staff Dan Halutz told Army Radio that while Iran had taken a ''significant step'', it had a long way to go before it could produce a nuclear bomb.

''The Iranians are still not there,'' he said. ''It will take time until they have a nuclear ability and time is there for dialogue to stop the programme.'' Halutz said even if Iran did manage to produce a nuclear warhead it was not clear Israel would be its first target.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is expected to visit Tehran this week to seek fuller Iranian cooperation with the Council and the IAEA.

US President George W Bush's administration has played down reports that it is drawing up plans for possible air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, insisting it wants to resolve the confrontation through diplomacy.

Israel's chief of military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, urged an acceleration of efforts to stop Iran's enrichment programme.

''The announcements from Tehran are a bargaining chip. They are meant to move the debate to the next point,'' he told Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

He told the daily Yedioth Ahronoth that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in around three years, assuming its programme continued to advance at the current rate and if Iran did not retreat in the face of international pressure.

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