Israel has no intention of attacking Iran-Peres

JERUSALEM, Oct 21 (Reuters) Israel has no aggressive intentions towards Iran, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said today, after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert cautioned Tehran it would pay a price for pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

''We must never consider such a thing,'' Peres told Channel Two television when asked if he would support an independent Israeli military strike against Iran if other nations failed to curb its uranium enrichment programme.

''Israel has never shown aggressive intentions (towards Iran) -- it has none. I don't think we have to, or can, deal with this issue,'' he said, cautioning that Israel could face international isolation if it attacked Iran.

Israel has said repeatedly it wants the United States and other countries to take the lead in dealing with Iran over a nuclear programme that has raised international concern the Islamic Republic could build atomic weapons.

Iran this month rejected demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, prompting United Nations Security Council to consider sanctions. It says it wants nuclear power only to generate electricity.

The issue was high on the agenda of talks Olmert held this week in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country, a UN Security Council member with veto power, has been reluctant to support sanctions.

''The Iranians should be afraid -- they must understand if they object to every compromise there will be a price to pay,'' Olmert, who has said a nuclear Iran would pose a threat to Israel's existence, told reporters on Thursday.

He did not elaborate. But his comments were described in the Israeli media as the strongest warning yet by an Israeli leader to Iran that Israel might consider a pre-emptive strike to try to ensure Tehran cannot build an atomic bomb.

Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, an attack that Peres, then leader of the opposition Labour Party, opposed as diplomatically damaging to the Jewish state. Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but has never confirmed it.

Peres said in the television interview that Israel should focus on exposing ''the real face'' of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for the Jewish state's destruction.

''(Ahmadinejad) is the only (leader) calling for genocide: a member of the United Nations threatening to destroy another member of the United Nations. And ... a large part of the world is silent,'' Peres said.

In a speech yesterday, Ahmadinejad said Europe was stirring up hatred in the Middle East by supporting Israel and warned it ''may get hurt'' if anger in the region boiled over.

REUTERS AB BST2326