MOSCOW - Israel should start talking seriously about ridding the Middle East of nuclear weapons, whether it admits to having them or not, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters on an official visit to the Russian capital, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said this would be a main topic of his visit to Israel in early July.
ElBaradei indicated he will not press Israel to abandon its policy of "strategic ambiguity", under which the Jewish state neither admits nor denies having a nuclear arsenal. Israel is widely believed to have from 100 to 200 atomic weapons.
"We need ... to rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"Israel agrees with that, but they say it has to be ... after peace agreements," ElBaradei said. "My proposal is maybe we need to start to have a parallel dialogue on security at the same time when we're working on the peace process."
He said that a dialogue would help reduce widespread frustration in the Middle East "about what is seen to be a security imbalance". He said talks on nuclear disarmament could stimulate peace efforts by building confidence in the region.
Asked if he thought the Israelis would be open to such an idea, he said: "I don't know. That's the purpose of my visit."
ElBaradei said he would not be lecturing the Israelis on whether or not they should acknowledge having atom bombs.
"I think everybody takes it as a given that Israel has a nuclear capability, if not nuclear weapons. So whether they would like to come in the open, whether they maintain ... ambiguity, it's for them to decide," ElBaradei said.
He said he would like Israel, as well as everyone else in the Middle East, to open up its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspections.
ElBaradei said it was unsustainable that some countries had nuclear weapons and others did not.
"As long as you continue to have countries dangling a cigarette from their mouth, you cannot tell everybody not to smoke with a high degree of credibility," ElBaradei said.
Israel and the United States both accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge that Tehran vehemently denies.
While Iraq and Libya are known to have unsuccessfully pursued atomic weapons, Israel is believed to be the only country in the region with the bomb.
Like India and Pakistan, which have atomic weapons, Israel has never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
