Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai, in an interview with public radio, slammed what he called Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz's "cynical use of central strategic issues for internal political reasons."

Mofaz, the infrastructure minister and a senior member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party, said in a newspaper interview that "if Iran continues its nuclear weapons programme, we will attack it."

"Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear programme," Mofaz told Friday's edition of the top-selling Yediot Aharonot.

He stressed that such an operation could only be conducted with US support.

A former defence minister and army chief, Mofaz hopes to replace embattled Olmert as prime minister and at the helm of the Kadima party.

The premier is currently the focus of corruption allegations that have sent tremors through the Israeli political landscape and threatened to unseat him.

The government has not officially responded to Mofaz's statements, but senior officials speaking on condition of anonymity have expressed outrage.

"Mofaz should keep quiet. Everyone in the country understands his motives are election-related, but making statements like this puts Israel in a very awkward position internationally," a foreign ministry official told AFP.

Israeli public radio quoted a senior defence ministry official on Sunday as saying the remarks were "irresponsible and do not represent the position of our government."

The Israeli press was unanimous in slamming Mofaz's statements, saying that if Olmert were not in such a weak political position he would have had to come down hard on the minister.

The left-leaning Haaretz newspaper published scathing criticism of Mofaz on its front page and cited reports that the minister's remarks caused the price of a barrel of crude oil to rise by 11 dollars.

"On the one hand that is impressive productivity; on the other it is scary. What is he planning for us during the real campaign?... A world war? A clash of the Titans?"

Mofaz even came under fire from right-wing opposition MPs with whom he is ideologically close, with Yuval Steinitz of the right-wing Likud Party saying it is "completely irresponsible to say these kinds of things."

Israel, itself believed to be the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its greatest threat because of the Islamic republic's accelerating nuclear programme.

Israel has also reacted strongly to repeated statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map."

Tehran on Saturday protested over Mofaz's remarks in a letter to the UN Security Council and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"The Israeli regime has been emboldened by the Security Council's indifference and... in blatant violation of the principles of the United Nations continues to threaten Iran with force," the letter said.

Israel's close ally the United States has been leading the drive to pressure Iran to halt its programme of uranium enrichment, and to date the Security Council has imposed three rounds of economic sanctions on the country.

Washington accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, a charge vehemently denied by Tehran which says its atomic programme is solely intended for generating electricity for a fast-growing population.

earlier related report
Israeli minister says the West is 'resigned' to Iranian bomb
An Israeli minister on Saturday accused the international community of failing to halt Iran's nuclear drive and the West of being "resigned" to Tehran's development of nuclear weapons.

"My feeling is that the enlightened Western world, and I don't know if it still is, is resigned to the development of a nuclear bomb in Iran," Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Israeli public radio.

He accused the international community of limiting its response to Tehran's accelerating nuclear programme to "words" alone.

Israel, believed to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has long accused Tehran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian programme and has come to consider Iran its greatest threat.

Iran denies the accusations, insisting its nuclear programme is peaceful.

"Hundreds of European and American firms, and I'm not even talking about the Chinese and North Koreans, are doing business with Iran day and night," Ben-Eliezer said.

He added that the Islamic republic "only understands one language" and that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly predicted Israel's demise, is "laughing at the whole world."

"We must tell them: 'If you so much as dream of attacking Israel, before you even finish dreaming there won't be an Iran anymore,'" he said.

Ben-Eliezer insisted he was not advocating a preventive military strike on Iran but said "Iran should know the price it will have to pay when it begins to think concretely about attacking Israel."

The minister's remarks came a day after an Israeli deputy prime minister warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons programme.

"If Iran continues its nuclear weapons programme, we will attack it," said Shaul Mofaz, who is also transportation minister.

"Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear programme," Mofaz told the Yediot Aharonot daily.

He stressed such an operation could only be conducted with US support.

A former defence minister and armed forces chief of staff, Mofaz hopes to replace embattled Ehud Olmert as prime minister and at the helm of the Kadima party.

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