Israel's Olmert raises Iran in Kremlin talks

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had raised concerns about Iran's nuclear programme in talks today with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Olmert said he also talked with Putin about the need for an embargo on weapons sales to Iran and Syria. Israeli security officials say Russian-made arms supplied to Syria were used by the Hezbollah militia in this summer's Lebanon war.

''Putin and I discussed many issues of strategic importance, foremost the Iranian nuclear threat,'' Olmert, on his first foreign trip since the Lebanon war, told reporters after meeting Putin in the Kremlin.

''We are at an historical crossroads and we do not have the privilege of ignoring the real intention of Iran, whose leadership has called publicly and declaratively for Israel's destruction,'' he told reporters.

''I come out of this meeting with a feeling that Putin understands the upcoming danger from Iran, if it indeed succeeds in fulfilling its purpose of arming itself with a nuclear weapon.'' Tehran denies it is seeking an atomic bomb and says its nuclear programme is for power generation. Israel is widely believed to have nuclear bombs but has never confirmed this.

Russia, a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council, says it does not want Iran to have nuclear arms but it has so far resisted US efforts to adopt sanctions, saying it is not proven Iran has military intentions.

LAVROV SEES NO THREAT Just hours before Putin met Olmert, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that Moscow did not see an immediate threat coming from Iran.

''It is necessary to act on Iran but that action should be in direct proportion to what is really happening,'' RIA news agency quoted him as saying.

''And what is really happening is what the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) reports to us. And the IAEA is not reporting to us about the presence there of a threat to peace and security,'' Lavrov added.

On Lebanon, Olmert said he had emphasised to Putin ''the importance of implementing a weapons embargo on countries that pass weapons to Hezbollah and on the Syrian and Iranian involvement in Lebanon''.

Russian officials have rejected Israeli calls for a halt to arms exports to Tehran and Damascus, including a contract to supply the Iranian military with Tor-1M anti-aircraft missile systems. Moscow says the weapons are purely defensive.

In opening remarks at the meeting, Putin said relations betweeen Israel and Russia had been ''completely transformed'' over the past few years and were now based on a greater degree of mutual trust.

Olmert's two-day visit to Russia coincides with the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations betweeen the two countries. Russia's predecessor, the Soviet Union, severed ties with Israel in 1967.

REUTERS AB RK1804