"We're discussing all issues of proliferation concern in the Middle East. If people want to raise the Iranian issue, I'll tell them where we are and what we're doing," Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general was heading for a meeting with Gideon Franck, head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission.

Iran was looming large in ElBaradei's talks, which come at a time when Israeli military intelligence chief Aharon Zeevi was quoted Wednesday in the Jerusalem Post as saying Tehran may have the bomb by 2008 if the international community does not halt Iran's march to acquiring nuclear weapons.

The IAEA has been investigating Iran's nuclear program since February 2003.

In June, the agency's 35-nation board of governors condemned Tehran for poor cooperation and urged it to provide more information so the investigation could conclude in a few months.

Iran's defence minister was quoted by Iranian state media on Wednesday as warning that the Islamic republic would abandon its commitments to the IAEA if its nuclear installations are attacked.

"Today the IAEA holds every detail on Iran's nuclear programme," Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani told the IRNA news agency.

"If there is a military attack, that would mean that the IAEA has been collecting this information to prepare for an attack. Naturally, after such an action, it would be necessary to renounce all of our nuclear commitments."

Iran's nuclear program was also on the agenda in Washington during talks Tuesday between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

"Iran is the country that has announced that one missile toward Israel will destroy the Jewish state. So we should be concerned about the Iranians' efforts to develop nuclear weapon," Shalom said.

Powell said Washington would "continue to press in every way that we can... to make sure the international community stands unified behind the effort to stop Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons development, or worse, acquiring a nuclear weapon."

ElBaradei began his visit to Israel on Tuesday by playing down prospects of a breakthrough in efforts to persuade the government to reveal its nuclear secrets and rid the Middle East of nuclear weapons.

"I have no illusion that things could happen overnight but I believe that the earlier we start a security dialogue, the better," ElBaradei said.

"We need to understand the different viewpoints of Israel, of the other parties in the Middle East and that's what I'm asked to do -- consult with all the parties and see how we can move things forward," he said, referring to an IAEA mandate he received last year on working towards a nuclear-free Middle East.

ElBaradei is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday, but the premier has stressed that Israel's policy of refusing to confirm or deny that it has nuclear weapons would continue.

Most foreign experts believe Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal of around 200 warheads, although it has stuck to a policy of "ambiguity" for the past 40 years.

Israel is not a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but ElBaradei said that he hoped to persuade Sharon's government to sign up to other agreements with his agency.

He is expected to push for a deal that would involve Israel informing the IAEA about Israeli imports and exports of nuclear-related material.

ElBaradei said the Israelis had told him they could not consider talking about doing away with nuclear weapons because they "cannot lower their security threshold" as Iran has said it wants to destroy the Jewish state.

"We haven't really made any progress because the Israelis have disputed, saying we can not discuss it before a comprehensive peace (in the Middle East)."

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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