UNITED NATIONS: Iran has demanded a "resolute and clear" response from the UN, particularly the Security Council, to the threat held out by an Israeli cabinet minister to kidnap its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
There was no immediate comment from the United Nations to the Iranian request.
In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iranian Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazee said 'Tehran has never threatened other countries' but would not hesitate to act in self defence to respond to any attack and to take appropriate
measures to protect itself.
The letter said that Israeli Pensions Minister Rafi Eitan and other officials had made "vicious threats" which are in violation of "fundamental principles of international law."
Eitan was secret service Mossad's agent who helped in apprehending top Nazi official Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and bringing him to Israel for trial. Eichmann was executed.
Der Spiegel, a German magazine, quoted him saying that the same tactics could be used in case of Ahmadinejad. Any method to bring him to trial is acceptable and a possibility, he said.
"A man like Ahmadinejad -who threatens genocide- has to be brought for trial to the International Criminal Court in Hague," he said.
Eitan's remarks, Khazaee said, displays the "aggressive and terrorist nature" of the Israeli regime.
The Israeli minister's response was to the repeated calls by Ahmadinejad to wipe out Israel from the map. Israel is believed to be the only country in the Middle East to have nuclear weapons.
Israel and its western allies state that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. They are trying to prevent Iran from enriching uranium and reprocessing the spent fuel to produce materials which could be used in making atomic weapons.
Eitan's statement came as Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Al Jazeera television that Tel Aviv was considering using any option if diplomatic efforts at reining in Iranian nuclear programme fail.
The United Nations' Security Council has imposed sanction on Iran to force it to stop its uranium enrichment programme but Tehran has asserted that it would continue to do so. However, Iran says that its programme is aimed at providing energy security and is not intended to produce weapons.
The European Union is in the forefront of the diplomatic efforts and has offered incentives to Iran to stop enrichment of the uranium. Depending on the degree of enrichment, it could be used for producing power or making the bomb.
