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Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that Iran
would pay "a very heavy price" if the Islamic Republic defiantly resumes
full-scale uranium enrichment to build nuclear weapons.
"At the end of the day, it shows that Iran will pay a very heavy price
if it continues with its plans to try and enrich its fuel in order to be able
to use it as an option to make non-conventional weapons," said Olmert at
the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
He also said that Israel had played an important role in what he described
as an intensive and stormy diplomatic effort leading to Iran's referral to the
UN Security Council.
Olmert's warning came shortly after Iran announced that it had ended all voluntary
cooperative measures with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including
snap checks of its nuclear sites and suspension of uranium enrichment.
The IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, decided on Monday to report Iran's
nuclear program to the Security Council, which might lead to sanctions.
Israel, believed to be the only nuclear power in the Mideast region, has accused
Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under a civilian front, a charge
categorically denied by Iran.
