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Prime Minister Olmert: In any case, there is one issue that certainly disturbs us very much and that is the Iranian issue. It wasn't born in recent months but has been on the international agenda for a not inconsiderable period. It is not an Israeli issue. Its links and threats do not pertain to Israel only. It is definitely an issue that weighs heavily on us too and we are working in various ways to deal with it but it is - first and foremost - an international issue. The international community also believes that it must deal with this issue. The way to deal with it, first and foremost, is to see to it that Iran will not have the ability to develop nuclear weapons. This is the goal. The ways are various and manifold. I hope that it will be possible to achieve this via negotiations, as I have said more than once, including through compromise. Any compromise that leads to Iran not crossing the technological threshold and not having the ability to produce non-conventional weapons seems to me a compromise in the right direction. The international community is making a major effort to reach such an arrangement. It is clear that Israel cannot countenance the idea that Iran will be nuclear capable and I am pleased that we think like other countries in the world, first and foremost the USA. I was recently in the USA and met with US President George Bush - he said as much and so did I. I can say, based on what I heard from him, that he led me to feel less concerned than I had been on this issue.

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Question: What is your reaction to US Defense Secretary's remarks on the Iranian nuclear issue?

Prime Minister Olmert: First of all, I do not think that anybody in the USA believes that the development of an Iranian nuclear capability is justified. I am very familiar with the position of the American administration, including the positions of the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary of State and the National Security Adviser. I have yet to speak with the new Secretary of Defense. His appointment was announced the day I arrived in the US and, naturally, we did not have time to speak. But I have no doubt that nobody in the USA, in any position of responsibility, supports, justifies or is prepared to countenance a nuclear-capable Iran. I don't know what statement you're basing your question on. It is very likely that the Defense Secretary was discussing the reasons the Iranians give - why they seemingly need such a capability even though it sounds a little strange to me since I recall that the Iranians have long claimed that they have no intention of producing either a bomb or a nuclear capability with military uses but want to develop this capability for peaceful and civilian purposes only. In any case, the Iranians' pretexts will be what they are. We cannot remain indifferent to attempts which appear to us to be serious attempts to develop a capability with which they will be able to advance toward the production of a non-conventional bomb. We will work with our friends, first and foremost with the USA, in order to prevent this.

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