The head of Israel's military intelligence said on Monday that the economic crisis could curb the nuclear ambitions of arch-foe Iran. "The worsening economic crisis, high inflation, rising unemployment and a drop in oil prices could put the brakes on Iran's nuclear aspirations," General Amos Yadlin said at a cabinet meeting."
But he stressed that Iran's long-term strategic goal remained to obtain a nuclear weapon. The Jewish state is a leading opponent of Iran's nuclear programme and considers Tehran its main enemy because of repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Israel to be wiped off the map.
New Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the threat posed by Iran constituted the biggest threat to Israel's existence since its creation 61 years ago. Israel itself is widely considered to be the Middle East's sole nuclear armed power but it has never confirmed or denied having an atomic arsenal and refuses to submit to international inspections.
A British newspaper said on Saturday that Israel's military was preparing itself to launch major aerial attacks on Iranian nuclear sites if ordered to by the new government. Iran is Opec's second largest crude producer and has been hit by the fall in oil prices, which are currently around 50 dollars a barrel compared with a peak in July last year of 147 dollars.