AFP: Visiting US national security advisor Stephen Hadley was to discuss Iran's nuclear programme with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday night, public radio said.
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Visiting US national security advisor Stephen Hadley was to discuss Iran's nuclear programme with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday night, public radio said.
A senior Israeli official confirmed the meeting was to take place but declined to give details.
The announcement came just hours after the deputy commander of Iran's army Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned that his country would "eliminate Israel from the global arena" if it were attacked by the Jewish state.
Stewart Tuttle, the spokesman for the US embassy, said Hadley's talks with top Israeli officials would cover "issues of mutual interest, and a good guess is these will include Iran."
Israeli public radio said Hadley would also meet Defence Minister Ehud Barak, military chief of staff Lieutenant General Gaby Ashkenazi and other senior security officials.
The talks aimed at preparing a session of the bilateral strategic cooperation forum focused on Iran that will be held in Washington in two weeks time, the radio said.
On Monday, a senior defence official said the United States had agreed to connect Israel to its ballistic missile early warning system to warn of any missile attack from Iran.
Israel claims that Iran's controversial nuclear programme and its recent ballistic missile test are aimed at developing an atomic weapon, a claim denied by Tehran.
The Jewish state considers Iran's Islamic regime an existential threat after President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad's repeated call for Israel's destruction.
Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer warned last week that any Iranian attack against Israel "would lead to the destruction of the Iranian nation."
