Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter publicly acknowledges Israel's nuclear
arsenal.

 HAY-ON-WYE, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM (MAY 25, 2008) HAY FESTIVAL
HANDOUT - 
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Sunday (May 25) that
Israel holds at least 150 nuclear weapons, the first time a U.S. president has
publicly acknowledged the Jewish state's atomic arsenal. 
    Carter revealed the figure while attending the Hay literary festival in
Wales, when he was asked at a news conference how a future U.S. president
should deal with the Iranian nuclear threat. He put the risk in context by
listing atomic weapons held globally. 
    "The U.S. has more than 12,000 nuclear weapons, and the Soviet
Union (Russia) has about the same, Great Britain and France have several
hundred, and Israel has 150 or more. So you've got a phalanx of enormous
capabilities, not only of weaponry but also of rockets to deliver every one of
those missiles on a pinpoint accuracy target," Carter said. 
    While the existence of Israeli nuclear weapons is widely assumed,
Israeli officials have never admitted their existence and U.S. officials have
stuck to that line in public for years. 
    The Nobel Peace Prize winner also said Washington should talk directly
to Tehran to persuade it to drop its nuclear ambitions. 
    Years of U.S. policy, including sanctions and a debate about the
possibility of military strikes, have not persuaded Iran to abandon its
ambitions to produce enriched uranium. 
    President George W. Bush has branded calls for negotiations as
comparable to the appeasement of Adolf Hitler before World War Two. 
    A former Israeli military intelligence chief, Aharon Zeevi-Farkash,
criticised Carter's comments and said they would do more harm than good. 
    Carter visited the Middle East in mid-April, during which he met the
leader of the Islamist group Hamas in Syria to try to move a peace process
forward between Israel and the Palestinians. 
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused to meet Carter, who has been
critical of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians. 
    Carter was president from 1977 to 1981. During that time, he helped
negotiate a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and concluded a strategic
arms agreement with the Soviet Union.