(AFP) Posted Wednesday August 25, 2010 - 9:12am
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday told the visiting
head of the UN's atomic watchdog that his organization must respond
with "severity" to Iran's nuclear ambitions and its threats against the
Jewish state.
Greeting Yukiya Amano on his first visit to Israel
since becoming head of the International Atomic Energy Agency last
December, Peres praised changes the new chief had made to the
institution and took a thinly-veiled swipe at his predecessor, Mohamed
ElBaradei.
"As a result of this substantive change Israel feels
has taken place at the IAEA, we can speak this morning professionally
and in a friendly atmosphere. From our perspective this is a new
experience," Peres' office quoted him as telling Amano.
Israel,
the United States and other Western countries believe that Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ultimately seeks to build a nuclear
arsenal.
Iran, which on Saturday began loading fuel into its
Russian-built first nuclear power plant, denies the allegations, saying
its programme is for civil energy purposes only.
"The statements
of Ahmadinejad calling for the destruction of Israel and denying the
Holocaust are unprecedented in the diplomatic world and international
community," the president said.
"The IAEA should treat them with
the required severity," added Peres, who is considered to be the father
of Israel's own nuclear programme.
Amano's visit comes against a
backdrop of demands by some IAEA members that Israel, generally
considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed
power, sign the international Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The
Haaretz daily reported on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
had snubbed Amano by last week abruptly cancelling a meeting that was
scheduled months ago.
US President Barack Obama last month assured
Netanyahu that a proposed 2012 conference on establishing a nuclear
weapons-free Middle East would not single out Israel.
Wednesday's
statement from Peres' office quoted Amano as saying that he had so far
met Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon and visited the Soreq
Nuclear Research Centre, whose activities are monitored by the IAEA.
The
presidential statement added that Shaul Horev, head of the Israel
Atomic Energy Commission, also took part in Wednesday's talks.
