UN calls for end to nuclear Middle East

ISRAEL should start talking seriously about ridding the Middle East of nuclear weapons, whether it admits to having them or not, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said yesterday.

Speaking on an official visit to the Russian capital, Mohamed ElBaradei director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said this would be a main topic of his visit to Israel in early July.

"We need to rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction," he said.