Iran: We don’t threaten Israel

A top Iranian official said his country’s nuclear program is not a threat to Israel. Ali Larijani, Iran’s negotiator on nuclear matters, said in a policy speech Sunday that his country was not a threat to Israel and was willing to cooperate with the international community on non-proliferation. “That Iran is willing to threaten Israel is wrong,” Larijani told the Munich security conference. “We pose no threat, and if we are conducting nuclear research and development we are no threat to Israel. We have no intention of aggression against any country.” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called repeatedly for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” stirring concern that he wants nuclear weapons for an attack on the Jewish state, and other Iranian officials have called explicitly for a nuclear attack on Israel. But Larijani accused Israel of seeking to concoct a threat from abroad. “I believe because of the defeat the Israelis have faced vis-a-vis the attack in Lebanon, they are looking now for an imaginary enemy,” he said, referring to last year’s war with Hezbollah.