WikiLeaks show consistent concern on Iran: Israel

Fav Tag: Wikileaks JERUSALEM: Israel reacted calmly Monday to the release of a massive trove of US diplomatic cables by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, saying they showed the Jewish state's consistent concern about Iran.

"We come out looking very good," a senior government official said on condition of anonymity, adding his assessment was only preliminary and came before the full set of leaked documents were released.

The cables "demonstrate that Israel doesn't speak a double language and that we say in private what we say in public" about the threat of Iran's nuclear programme, he added.

Many of the documents released so far detail tense discussions between the United States and regional allies over Iran's nuclear drive, which Tehran says is for peaceful energy purposes but which many suspect masks a weapons drive.

"They confirm that the whole Middle East is terrified by the prospect of a nuclear Iran. The Arab countries are pushing the United States towards military action more forcefully than Israel," the Israeli official added.

The documents posted online by WikiLeaks and a select group of international media outlets on Sunday show widespread concern about Iran's nuclear programme and reveal Saudi Arabia "repeatedly" urged a US military strike on the country.

The cables confirm Israel's publicly stated fears about Tehran's nuclear intentions, but reveal Arab regimes openly called on Washington to attack Iran.

In one published by the New York Times, Saudi King Abdullah was said to have called for decisive US action on Iran during a meeting with US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and US General David Petraeus in April 2008.

"He told you to 'cut off the head of the snake'," Saudi Arabia's US ambassador Adel al-Jubeir told the US embassy in Riyadh two days after the 
high-level talks.