Report: Netanyahu supported striking Iran

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JERUSALEM, April 21 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was willing to join former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government if Israel initiated an attack on Iran, a report says.

The details of Netanyahu's stand appeared in a confidential cable sent by Marc J. Sievers, a political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, to the State Department in Washington in June 2007, a report released by WikiLeaks exclusively to Haaretz said.

The cable also dealt with the various options related to the forming of a new government and the possibility of forming a national unity government under Olmert's rule, the newspaper said.

At the time, Netanyahu was reportedly willing to accept the post of foreign minister in the event of a military strike on the Islamic Republic of Iran.

It was the second time Netanyahu said he was willing to support an Israeli prime minister in the event an attack was launched on Iran, the newspaper said noting that in December 2005, when then prime minister Ariel Sharon formed the Kadima party, Netanyahu said he would support him if he acted against Iran before the elections.

An additional document handed over by WikiLeaks to the Hebrew daily revealed concern by the United States about the Chinese company Zibo Chemet supplying vital equipment to Iran's chemical weapons program.

A cable drawn up by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009 instructed the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to take action against the Chinese company, Haaretz said.

"We have new information indicating that Zibo Chemet transferred technology for the production of glass-lined reactor equipment to Iranian customers, significantly enhancing Iran's ability to produce indigenously chemical equipment suitable for a chemical warfare program," Haaretz quoted the cable saying.