A CONVERSATION WITH EHUD OLMERT

Bush is the last person on Earth who needs to be reminded of what should be done to stop Iran. If there is one person I can trust, it's him. I trust his moral integrity, I trust his moral commitment and I trust his determination.

Do you think regime change is the only way to stop this?

I can think of many different measures. The guideline has to be that this government and the people of Iran must understand that if they do not accept the request of the international community, they're going to pay dearly.

So you wouldn't rule out the military option?

I think my words were clear enough.

If the international community does not act, would Israel consider taking military action?

It is absolutely intolerable for Israel to accept the threat of a nuclear Iran. I prefer not to discuss the Israeli options. Israel has many options.

When you look back at the war last summer, do you feel it reduced Hezbollah's military strength but built them up politically?

I think Israel had a strategic, military and political success. Unfortunately, before the war, we lacked what we thought we had -- deterrence. They were not afraid of starting a fight with us because they thought our reaction would be entirely different. Now if you ask [Hezbollah leader Hasan] Nasrallah if he would want to repeat it, I'm sure his answer would be definitely not.

I know for sure through different sources that Hezbollah was close to total surrender. Now the presence of the Lebanese army in the entire southern region, together with a robust international force, is very significant. It creates a reality entirely different to anything that existed before July 12.

[Syrian] President [Bashar al-] Assad is sending out suggestions that he would like to talk to Israel. Why wouldn't it be a good idea to explore those hints?

If Assad was serious, he would have stopped his total support of Khaled Mashal, the man directly responsible for daily terrorist actions against Israel. I would be happy to negotiate with Bashar Assad, but on the basis of a certain environment, where you stop your support of terror and of Hezbollah. Assad doesn't show any sign that he's ready to do this.

But you negotiated with [Yasser] Arafat when he was in Tunisia , and he was certainly a terrorist.

I think we learned something about negotiations of this kind from this experience. I don't expect my enemies to be wonderful guys. But I want them to come with clean hands when they come to negotiate. Bashar Assad doesn't come with clean hands. When he comes with clean hands, I will talk to him.

If the United States gets out of Iraq, how does that affect the security of your country?

If there is a premature pullout before Iraq has a robust government with a strong authority that can keep the country from collapsing into an internal civil war, America will have to think about the possible ramifications on neighboring Arab countries with moderate governments. How will it affect the stability of these countries against the radical forces that might flourish as a result of a premature pullout of America?