Nuke Iran will destabilise W.Asia, not in India's interest: Israeli experts

New Delhi, Tue, 03 Apr 2012 ANI

New Delhi, Apr.3 (ANI): Since a stable West Asia is in the interest of both India and Israel, India should support efforts to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state, argued strategic experts from Israel at a conference on "Two Decades of India-Israel Relationship" here today.

Picking on the argument of a leading Indian strategic expert that Pakistan is using the nuclear deterrence to sponsor and abet terrorism against India, the Israeli experts said that is all the more reason, for Israel and India also, to see that Iran is prevented from becoming a nuclear state at any cost.

One of the experts said the Pakistan model of the story is actually worrisome. "We should do everything to see that Iran does not become a Pakistan. While Pakistan is a threat to India, Iran will become a threat to many other countries in the region. And other countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others would also try to become nuclear, threatening the stability of Middle East".

Having the experience of Pakistan, India should help in preventing another nuclear state emerging, which also sponsors and abets terrorism, the Israeli experts argued.

The two-day conference on "Two Decades of India-Israel Relationship" is organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) along with the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Tel Aviv, Israel.

In the inaugural session on "India-Israel Bilateral Relationship: Shared Concerns and Prospects", Mr. Kanwal Sibal, former Foreign Secretary, and Mr. Alon Ushpiz, Ambassador of Israel, presented papers.

In the opening remarks, ORF Director Sunjoy Joshi said India-Israel relationship, though only two decades-old, is growing rapidly with both the countries having lots of shared values and the relationship being in "organic in nature".

Joshi said both countries have "deepest strategic interests" and may have to jointly cope with threats like a nuclear Iran as India has coped with the threat of a nuclear Pakistan.

The conference will have sessions on 'Developments in West Asia', 'Nuclear Iran Implications', 'Developments in South Asia: Challenges for India and Israel', 'Cooperation in Counterterrorism and defence' and a 'Special session on Pakistan'. (ANI)