By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 4, 2005; 8:06 PM

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel's military chief of staff said Sunday he did not believe diplomatic pressure will put a halt to Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"The fact that the Iranians are successful time after time in getting away from international pressure ... encourages them to continue their nuclear project," Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz told foreign journalists in Tel Aviv. "I believe that the political means that are used by the Europeans and the U.S. to convince the Iranians to stop the project will not succeed."

Israel _ which destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor in a 1981 air strike _ considers Iran its biggest threat, and dismisses Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is peaceful.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, however, insisted Israel was not spearheading efforts to block Iran from becoming a nuclear power, but reiterated, "We can't have a situation where Iran will become a nuclear power."

With all the confusion surrounding the sale of nuclear materials following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it is not clear how advanced Iran is in its quest to develop a nuclear warhead, Halutz said.

Last month, the European Union accused Iran of having documents that show how to make nuclear warheads, and joined the United States in warning Tehran that it could face referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

There are military options to deal with Tehran, Halutz said.

"Who is the one to implement it? That is another question that I'm not going to answer. 'When?' is another question that I'm not going to answer. But there are options worldwide," he said.

On Friday, Israel successfully tested its Arrow missile defense system against a missile similar to Iran's Shahab-3, which potentially could be equipped with a nuclear warhead to reach Israel or several U.S. military installations in the Middle East.

Israeli concerns about Tehran's intentions _ already heightened after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in October that Israel must be "wiped off the map" _ were compounded by media reports that Russia would sell Iran missiles and other defense systems valued at more than $1 billion.

A Russian government spokesman said Saturday that weapons sales to Iran are purely for defensive purposes, but did not comment on the reported details of the deal.