JERUSALEM (AP):

Iran has taken another leap toward a nuclear bomb by launching heavy-water production despite international demands that it roll back its nuclear programme.

Iran's president said in a speech during the opening ceremony Saturday that Iran will never abandon its nuclear programme and reiterated that nuclear weapons production is not the goal. He said the programme poses no threat to any other country, including Israel which, in his words, "is a definite enemy."

Israeli legislator Ephraim Sneh of the Labour Party, a partner in the ruling coalition, warned in a statement that Iran's heavy-water production marks "another leap in Iran's advance toward a nuclear bomb."

Sneh, a former Deputy Defense Minister, said Iran's progress shows that international efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons are insufficient. "Israel has to draw the conclusions and to prepare itself militarily," said Sneh.

When asked to elaborate in a subsequent telephone interview, Sneh would only say that Israel should improve its defensive capacities against Iran's looming nuclear threat. He said he expressed his personal view, not that of the government.

Israel's position

Israel's official position is that it will let international diplomacy play itself out, and Israeli leaders have been evasive when asked about possible military action against Iran. In 1981, Israel bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction.

Silvan Shalom. a legislator and former foreign minister from the hawkish Likud Party, called on the world to stand up against the Iranian threat.

"This is a crucial time for the international community. Will it once again cave in to the Iranians or will it put an end to the dangerous plans of Iran?" he said. "It would be best for the world to express its determination today at the very last moment before it is exposed to an existential threat. Israel must prepare so that it can prevent the dangerous developments if the world continues to waffle."