Israel�s nuclear program

Shortly after George W. Bush was elected for a second term as the President of the United States of America, Vice President Dick Cheney made the most shocking remarks, implying that Iran was "right at the top of the list" of the rogue enemies of America, and that Israel would " be doing the bombing for us", without the need for U.S. military involvement- Without even asking them to �do it�; the GlobalResearch website stated.

"One of the concerns people have is that Israel might do it without being asked... Given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards."

Earlier this week, Tehran Times warned against the expansion of Israel�s nuclear arsenal, saying it might cause a global crisis.

The paper criticised the "hasty" reaction to the recent remarks by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying that "Iran feels duty-bound to warn the world of the existence of Israel's nuclear arsenal."

Last week, President Ahmadinejad called on the International community to take a swift action to protect the world against Israel�s dangerous policy.

The Iranian President�s remarks were met "with hasty reactions by some pro-Israeli countries," the paper added.

"Although the Iranian nation has shouted slogans against the Zionist regime since 1979, these slogans have never meant a physical confrontation with Israel but rather referred to the need to wipe out all Zionist ways of thought, which never recognize anyone else's right to live freely," it said.

"When one talks about the annihilation of Israel, it does not mean the genocide of the Jewish people, but rather a non-violent confrontation with Zionist schools of thought, which are endangering the Middle East and the entire world."

Israel�s nuclear arsenal is threatening the world peace and security, Tehran Times stressed, underlining the fact that Israel possesses nine facilities for production of fission nuclear weapons as well as hydrogen and neutron bombs, which "is a real threat to the world and particularly the critical Middle East region."

"Indeed, it is odd that the world has remained silent about Israel's refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but opposes Iran's civilian nuclear activities," the paper noted.

Israeli officials have "constantly threatened to attack Iran's nuclear installations, goaded on by international organizations and Western countries".

"Although the Islamic Republic is extremely reluctant to raise political tension in the pressure cooker of the Middle East, it feels duty-bound to warn the world of the existence of Israel's nuclear arsenal," it added.

The paper urged the world powers to take those warnings "seriously," stressing that if Israel went ahead with its current policy, which includes �mass production of prohibited weapons by the Zionist regime�, this will trigger an arms race in the Middle East and eventually result in a global crisis.

"The United States and other Western countries are actually trying to raise brouhaha over a single statement by an Iranian official so they can divert attention from the ever-increasing crimes the Zionists are committing against the innocent Palestinians," the daily concluded. 

Although Israel, widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons and intermediate-range ballistic missiles to deliver them, it neither confirms nor denies it has a nuclear weapons program. It only says that it won�t be the first to "introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East".

Israel insists on refusing to to sign the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty(NPT), signed and observed by the Islamic republic of Iran which Israel claims is close to having a nuclear bomb.