Vanunu: Israel’s nukes started atomic arms race

12/5/2004 7:00:00 PM GMT

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu said Sunday that Israel's nuclear arms are pushing the rest of the Middle East countries to start developing their own nuclear weapons.

Vanunu, moreover, said that tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions were linked to Israel’s arsenal.

Washington claims that Iran is covertly trying to develop atomic weapons, and has threatened to refer the Islamic republic to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

But Iran has repetitively denied the claims, saying that its nuclear program was mainly aimed at peaceful purposes like generating electricity.

"Iran tried to put pressure on the world to deal with Israel," Vanunu told Sky News TV, again defying an Israeli government order that bans him from speaking to any foreign media.

"Iran doesn't need, I think, atomic bombs, Iran doesn't want to fight any state with atomic bombs," he said. "But because the world (is) ignoring Israel, that pushes Iran and other states to try to be equal with Israel."

Based on pictures and information passed by Vanunu to the London Sunday Times in the mid-80s, experts have determined that Israel has hundreds of nuclear bombs, however, Israel never admitted possessing nuclear arms, maintaining a policy of ambiguity.

Vanunu, the anti-nuclear campaigner, was jailed for 18 years after being convicted of espionage and treason for supplying the photographs and documents.

Israel has banned Vanunu from leaving the country.

In July, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that Israel has the U.S. backing for it right to possess weapons of deterrence - an oblique reference to the country's secret store of nuclear.

Vanunu, a convert to Christianity, said that he feels unsafe in Israel, he has been living at St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem since his release from jail in April.

"I don't feel safe, I don't feel free, the only place I can feel freedom and enjoy new life after 18 years will be far away from Israel, abroad in England, or in Europe, the United States," Vanunu told Sky News TV.