United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

Another Israeli minister spoke belligerently about Iran on Saturday, threatening the complete annihilation of Iran "if you so much as dream of attacking Israel," AFP reported. -- Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer accused the West in a radio interview of being "resigned" to Iran's development of nuclear weapons (of which, it bears repeating in the face of concerted propaganda campaign that for years has been suggesting the opposite, there is no concrete evidence) and said that Iran "only understands one language. . . . We must tell them: 'If you so much as dream of attacking Israel, before you even finish dreaming there won't be an Iran anymore.'" -- Iran, alarmed by a statement by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday that an attack on Iran was "unavoidable," appealed to the U.N Security Council on Saturday to take action: "Such a dangerous threat against a sovereign state and a member of the United Nations constitutes a manifest violation of international law and contravenes the most fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and, thus, requires a resolute and clear response on the part of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council," Khazaee's letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, dated June 6, said.[2] -- In an interview with Der Spiegel, IAEA Director Mohammed ElBaradei rebuked both Israel and Iran, saying that "with unilateral military actions, countries are undermining international agreements," and that "the readiness of Iran's side to cooperate leaves a lot to be desired."[3] -- BACKGROUND: Ironically, Iran, which has scrupulously adhered to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory, is regularly represented in Western media as an international criminal in this matter. -- The U.S. and Israel, meanwhile, are cast in the role of defenders of international legality. -- In fact, both the U.S. and Israel have repeatedly in recent years violated the U.N. Charter and Security Council resolutions. -- As for the NPT, the U.S. is in non-compliance with its obligations under the treaty and Israel has refused altogether to sign the accord, without any protest from the U.S., developing instead, over the past forty years, while the U.S. deliberately turned a blind eye, nuclear weapons of its own (more than 150, according to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, speaking last month in Hay-on-Wye). -- Both the U.S. and Israel are militarily dominant, indeed militarist, powers that have made aggressive use of force on dozens of occasions; Iran, on the other hand, which is often portrayed in Western media as an imperial power bent on conquest, has not invaded another country since the 18th century, and suffered between 500,000 and 1,000,000 casualties in the Iran-Iraq war which began by an unprovoked attack from Iraq and continued for years with Western support. -- It also bears repeating that Iran has not threatened to "wipe Israel off the map," as some Western press organs repeat endlessly (twice in the third article below, for example; the AFP piece more accurately states that Iran's president "has repeatedly predicted Israel's demise"). -- As for the agressive dominance display behavior currently being exhibited in the Israel/U.S.-Iran standoff, its roots are deep in human nature. -- Some anthropologists believe that bipedalism developed from some primate ancestor "standing bipedally and banging his chest, or a male chimp bipedally charging a subordinate" (Bill Sellers, formerly of the Univ. of Leeds)....

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli minister on Saturday accused the international community of failing to halt Iran's nuclear drive and the West of being "resigned" to Tehran's development of nuclear weapons.

"My feeling is that the enlightened Western world -- and I don't know if it still is -- is resigned to the development of a nuclear bomb in Iran," Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Israeli public radio.

He accused the international community of limiting its response to Tehran's accelerating nuclear program to "words" alone.

Israel, believed to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has long accused Tehran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian program and has come to consider Iran its greatest threat.

"Hundreds of European and American firms, and I'm not even talking about the Chinese and North Koreans, are doing business with Iran day and night," Ben-Eliezer said.

He added that the Islamic republic "only understands one language" and that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly predicted Israel's demise, is "laughing at the whole world."

"We must tell them: 'If you so much as dream of attacking Israel, before you even finish dreaming there won't be an Iran anymore,'" he said.

Ben-Eliezer insisted he was not advocating a preventive military strike on Iran but said "Iran should know the price it will have to pay when it begins to think concretely about attacking Israel."

The minister's remarks came a day after an Israeli deputy prime minister warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons program.

"If Iran continues its nuclear weapons program, we will attack it," said Shaul Mofaz, who is also transportation minister.

"Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear program," Mofaz told the *Yediot Aharonot* daily.

A former defense minister and armed forces chief of staff, Mofaz hopes to replace embattled Ehud Olmert as prime minister and at the helm of the Kadima party.

WASHINGTON -- Iran demanded action from the U.N. Security Council about an Israeli threat to attack its nuclear sites if it continues uranium enrichment, according to a letter released Saturday by Iranian U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee.

Israeli Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted on Friday in an Israeli newspaper saying that an attack on Iran looks "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential.

"Such a dangerous threat against a sovereign state and a member of the United Nations constitutes a manifest violation of international law and contravenes the most fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and, thus, requires a resolute and clear response on the part of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council," Khazaee's letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, dated June 6, said.

Iran has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects, which it says are for peaceful electricity generation.

Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel, believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, and U.S. targets in the Gulf, if there is any attack on Iran.

Mofaz's threat against Iran was the most explicit from a member of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, which has preferred to hint at a possible use of force.

Khazaee's letter said the Security Council's history of failing to act against Israel "has emboldened it to continue and even increase its unlawful behaviors and policies."

Israel is widely assumed to have a nuclear arsenal but has never confirmed it publicly. Khazaee said that "poses the most immediate and serious threat that the world and the region are facing."

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohammed ElBaradei on Saturday rebuked remarks made by Transportation Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, saying an attack against Iran seemed "unavoidable."

In an interview with the German newspaper *Der Spiegel*, the head of the United Nation's nuclear watchdog said "with unilateral military actions, countries are undermining international agreements, and we are at a historic turning point."

The Nobel Peace prize laureate condemned Iran's leadership, saying "the readiness of Iran's side to cooperate leaves a lot to be desired."

Teheran's leadership "is sending a message to the entire world: we can build a bomb in relatively short time," ElBaradei added.

ElBaradei's words come in the wake of Mofaz's statement Friday that "if Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective. Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable."

Iran demanded action from the U.N. Security Council in response to Mofaz' remarks in a letter submitted Saturday by Iranian U.N. Ambassador Mohammed Khazaee.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Friday that the United States was committed to solving the Iranian nuclear threat through diplomatic multilateral means, in a response to Mofaz's statements Friday.

"I understand that Israel is very concerned about their future and their safety when they have a neighbor in their region -- Iran -- that says they want to wipe them off the map," Perino told reporters. "We are trying to solve this diplomatically," she explained.

Asked whether the United States was keeping military options open as a last resort with Iran, she said U.S. President George W. Bush had always said he "would never take any options off the table" but that Washington was pursuing multilateral diplomacy.

"The international community deserves to have the verification that that is true," she said of Iran's assertions that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.

Earlier, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel, asked specifically whether the United States would support an Israeli strike on Iran, said, "I'm not going to talk about hypotheticals. I think we've been pretty clear in recent weeks and months about our approach on Iran."

The Bush administration has repeatedly said it wants to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy but has made clear that military options remain on the table as a last resort.

Iran has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects, which it says are for peaceful electricity generation.

Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel, believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, and U.S. targets in the Gulf if there is any attack on Iran.

The comments made by Mofaz, a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff as well as former defense minister, was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should United Nations Security Council sanctions fail to achieve the desired abandonment of nuclear development by Tehran.

Mofaz also said Friday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, "would disappear before Israel does."

Mofaz's remarks came as he and several other senior members of Olmert's Kadima Party prepare for a possible run for top office should a corruption scandal force the Israeli prime minister to step down.

Iranian-born Mofaz has been a main party rival of the Israeli prime minister, particularly following the 2006 elections when Olmert was forced to hand the defence portfolio to Labor, his main coalition partner, at Mofaz's expense.

Mofaz, who is also designated as a deputy prime minister, has remained privy to Israel's defense planning. He is a member of Olmert's security cabinet and leads regular strategic coordination talks with the U.S. State Department.

A similar Israeli sortie over Syria last September razed what the U.S. administration said was a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean help. Syria denied having any such facility.

Independent analysts have questioned, however, whether Israel's armed forces can take on Iran alone, as its nuclear sites are numerous, distant, and well-fortified.