VIENNA - Western nations foiled a bid by Arab and Islamic states on Friday to declare Israel's reputed nuclear arsenal a threat that must be removed in a politically charged vote at a UN atomic watchdog meeting.

Canada sponsored a 45-29 "no-action" ballot that prevented International Atomic Energy Agency member states from voting on a motion demanding Israel use atomic energy only for peaceful purposes and help set up a Middle East nuclear arms-free zone.

But the gathering voted 89-2 for a milder resolution on Israel, also initiated by Arab states, "affirming the urgent need for all states in the Middle East to accept full-scope IAEA safeguards on all their nuclear activities".

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Israel neither admits nor denies having atomic weapons but most experts believe it has about 200 nuclear warheads.

Nineteen nations, including India and Russia, abstained over the "threat" measure, and three in the safeguards vote.

Israel and its closest ally the United States were the sole "no" votes on the IAEA safeguards resolution.

The blocked measure would have been nonbinding. The passage of the other resolution was the first affecting Israel at the IAEA's yearly General Conference since 1991.

The United States, European and other Western allies combined to stifle the "threat" resolution, which Western envoys said undermined the IAEA's traditional consensus approach.

U.S. adversaries such as Venezuela and Cuba and some developing nations like South Africa joined the unsuccessful Arab-Islamic effort to put it to a vote.

Arab and Islamic anger also simmered over "double standards" seen in Western pressure on Iran to shelve its fledgling nuclear energy program while Israel faced none despite a batch of UN resolutions urging it to scrap its alleged atomic warheads.

Israel said a regional nuclear arms-free zone was a noble idea in principle but "frivolous" and dangerous so long as some neighbors continued not to recognize the Jewish state, with Iran openly calling for its destruction.