Olmert says no U.S. pressure on Israel over Iran

By Jeffrey Heller

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday Israel was free to take any action it deemed necessary against Iran's nuclear program, saying there were no U.S. restraints.

But the outgoing Israeli leader, who held farewell talks with U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday, stopped short, in a briefing to reporters, of making any threat to strike Iran.

"I can't recall that anyone in the (U.S.) administration, including in the last couple of days, advised me or any of my official representatives not to take any action that we will deem necessary for the fundamental security of the state of Israel, and that includes Iran," Olmert said.

Olmert, caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed after Israel's February 10 election, was replying to a question on whether Washington was pressuring Israel not to launch an invasion of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip or to refrain from attacking Iran.

Israel and the West believe Iran is enriching uranium with the aim of building nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is aimed at generating electricity.

While urging stronger international sanctions on Tehran, Olmert has said Israel was keeping all options open in dealing with Iranian nuclear activities he has described as a threat to the existence of the Jewish state.

Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal.

Some diplomats and analysts say the global financial crisis had eclipsed Western jitters over Iran's nuclear program and may have put paid to the possibility of the United States or Israel resorting to preemptive military strikes.

To bomb Iranian sites, diplomats and analysts said, would risk triggering an even more intolerable tumult should Tehran choke off oil exports.

A U.S. diplomat who has had extensive dealings with Iran told Reuters in October that Washington had "made it clear that an offensive option against Iran is not something we want contemplated at this time." The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity.

Last August, Israel's Haaretz newspaper said in an unsourced report that Washington had turned down Israeli requests for military hardware to help it prepare for a possible attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Interviewed on Israeli Army Radio at the time, Defense Minister Ehud Barak declined to discuss the report, saying "it would not be right to talk about these things."

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Editing by Jackie Frank)