The exercise was aimed at testing the air force’s ability to counter rocket and missile attacks from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and archfoe Iran, as well as the infiltration of jets overland, the official told AFP.

This is the first time the Israeli army has simulated strikes from the Islamic republic, located more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away, he said.

The drill, however, did not simulate a strike on Iran, the official said, amid foreign media reports that Israel had recently performed massive air exercises to simulate strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

On Wednesday, Iran said it had successfully test-fired a new medium-range surface to surface missile capable of reaching Israel, a move which raised concern in the United States.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said that the exercise “was successful and important. What we saw strengthens our security that there is someone we can trust.”

Heavy air force jet and helicopter activity was noticeable across the country during the drill, among the biggest the air force has ever carried out.

An Israeli army spokesman said the exercise was “routine and part of the army’s annual training plan and is intended to prepare the Israeli air force to successfully face any possible threat.”

Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East’s sole nuclear armed power, suspects the Islamic republic of using its nuclear programme to develop atomic weapons, a charge that Tehran has long denied.

The Jewish state considers Tehran to be its arch-enemy because of repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that countering Iran’s nuclear ambitions topped his agenda and that the Jewish state reserves its right to self-defence against Iran.

Israel wraps up drill to combat Iran strike

Washington worried Iran would turn spent fuel from the plant’s reactor into plutonium, which could then be used to build a nuclear warhead, and U.S. officials pressured Moscow for years to stop helping Iran build the electricity-generating facility.

American opposition to the plant eased when Iran agreed in 2005 to return spent fuel to Russia to ensure it can’t be reprocessed into plutonium. Russia is providing enriched uranium fuel for the plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.

But the U.S. and its allies say there are deep questions about whether Iran intends to use other parts of its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons. Tehran denies that.

The United States said Wednesday that the fuel deal with Russia shows Tehran does not need the most controversial part of its nuclear program — facilities to produce its own enriched uranium.

The arrangement with Russia is “an appropriate mechanism for Iran to see the benefits of the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said in Washington. “It also demonstrates that Iran does not need to develop any kind of indigenous uranium enrichment capacity.”

The U.N. Security Council, the U.S. and other countries have demanded that Iran suspend enrichment because the process not only can produce fuel for a reactor, but can be used to develop highly enriched uranium needed to make nuclear bombs.

Iran denies it is seeking to build atomic weapons, and says it has a right to produce its own fuel for several nuclear power plants it plans to build. It says relying on imported fuel for its entire reactor program would leave it vulnerable to cutoffs as political pressure.

Iranian officials on Wednesday claimed further progress in expanding the uranium enrichment program, saying the number of centrifuges operating at its enrichment plant has increased to 6,000, up from 5,000 in November.

Iranians in Test Run of First Nuclear Power Plant

The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — signed the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, under which they pledged to negotiate steps on scrapping their nuclear weapons.

While most of the 192 U.N. member states have signed the pact, U.N. officials and signatories without atomic weapons have long complained the five nuclear powers have yet to abandon their warhead stocks.

India, Pakistan and Israel are also widely seen as unofficial members of the nuclear club. North Korea held a nuclear test in 2006 and Western nations believe that Iran is following in Pyongyang’s footsteps, a charge Tehran denies.

“Nuclear weapons produce horrific, indiscriminate effects. Even when not used, they pose great risks,” Ban told a conference organized by the East-West Institute.

“Accidents could happen any time. The manufacture of nuclear weapons can harm public health and the environment,” he said. “Of course, terrorists could acquire nuclear weapons.”

While most countries have no plans to obtain atomic weapons, Ban said some still viewed possession of such weapons as a status symbol. He gave no examples.

“Some states view nuclear weapons as offering the ultimate deterrent of nuclear attack, which largely accounts for the estimated 26,000 that still exist,” Ban said. He added the world remained concerned about North Korea and Iran.

BAN’S DISARMAMENT PROPOSALS

Arms control experts have also criticized U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration for refusing to join the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, or CTBT, banning nuclear tests, and launching research on new types of atomic weapons.

They say that sends the wrong signal to countries like Iran and North Korea, which feel threatened by Washington.

A U.S. official who requested anonymity said: “We appreciate the secretary-general’s comments, but our policy remains clear. The U.S. does not support the CTBT and will not become a party to it. The U.S. continues to maintain a moratorium on nuclear tests, and urges other states to do likewise.”

The Bush administration has declined to submit the treaty for Senate ratification, saying it does not want its options limited by such a pact.

To help end the impasse on disarmament, Ban presented a number of proposals in his speech, including:

- The nuclear weapon states should keep their promises to launch negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament;

- The permanent Security Council members should open discussions on security issues related to disarmament and should try to assure countries without atomic weapons they will never be subjected to a nuclear attack;

- The CTBT should be brought into force and efforts should be made to establish nuclear weapon free zones around the world, including in the Middle East;

- New efforts should be made to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological arms, to prevent terrorists from getting WMD and to limit conventional arms production and trade.

Ban also said he supported the idea of the U.N. General Assembly holding a world disarmament summit.

Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, told reporters Moscow would need time to study Ban’s proposals before reacting to them. (Editing by Peter Cooney)

Reuters AlertNet