EU Wants a Middle East Free of Nukes

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, center, meets with Israeli Paralympians in his office in Jerusalem, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006. Candid TV footage of Olmert and his Italian counterpart, Romano Prodi, showed Olmert coaching Prodi on what to say at their joint press conference in Rome. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) (Sebastian Scheiner - AP)

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union called Thursday for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, responding to recent comments by the Israeli prime minister that have been interpreted as acknowledging his country has a nuclear arsenal.

In interview with a Germany television station broadcast Monday, Ehud Olmert appeared to list Israel among the world's nuclear powers. The next day, however, he denied having "outed" his country's nuclear program.

Although Israel is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, it has maintained a policy of ambiguity since the 1960s, refusing to confirm or deny it.

"The position of the European Union is very clear," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "In the long term, we don't want to have the Middle East with weapons of mass destruction."

Olmert's remarks came when the interviewer asked him about Iran's calls for the destruction of Israel.

"Iran openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map," Olmert said. "Can you say that this is the same level, when you are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?"

The next day, Olmert insisted that Israel "will not be the first country that introduces nuclear weapons to the Middle East."

Solana has been the U.N. Security Council's point man in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. The Islamic country says its program is meant only to generate power, but the U.S., its European allies and Israel fear Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

The Security Council could vote next week on whether to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can generate power or create the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

At a summit Thursday, 25 EU foreign ministers urged Syria to play a constructive role in Middle East peace efforts and encouraged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to keep up efforts to form a coalition government between his Fatah party and the Islamic militant Hamas. Factional violence between Fatah and Hamas has pushed the rivals closer to civil war.

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Associated Press writer David Stringer contributed to this report.