Israel will attack Iran if it doesn't abandon its nuclear programme, a cabinet minister hoping to replace embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz also said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 'will disappear before Israel does'.

Olmert has already hinted that Israel is prepared to use force, stressing that 'the Iranian threat must be stopped by all means'.

Mofaz - a former chief of staff and defence minister - has concluded that international sanctions haven't curbed Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

'If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective,' he told Yedioth Ahronoth.

It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Olmert's government.
Any Israeli strike would have US backing, Mofaz said.

The White House, however, sought to downplay the threat last night. It said the US understands Israel's concerns but remains committed to diplomacy.

But a spokeswoman added that President George W Bush will 'never take any options off the table'.

There is a precedent for Israeli military action: In 1981, Israeli planes destroyed an unfinished Iraqi reactor.

A similar Israeli sortie over Syria last September razed what the US administration said was a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean help. Syria denied having any such facility.

Independent analysts have questioned, however, whether Israel's armed forces can take on Iran alone, as its nuclear sites are numerous, distant and well-fortified.

In Washington last week, Iran dominated Olmert's meetings with Bush.

Mofaz's bellicose comments on Iran coincide with the launching of his campaign to replace Olmert as head of Israel's governing Kadima Party if a corruption probe pushes Olmert out of office.

Mofaz is carving out a hawkish position, and earlier this week, spoke out against returning the Golan Heights, captured in the 1967 Mideast war, to Syria.

Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects.

The leadership in Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel - believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal - and US targets in the Gulf for any attack on Iranian turf.