Medvedev says Israel not intend to strike Iran

MOSCOW, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli president said Israel has no intention to launch a military attack on Iran, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with CNN released Sunday.

Medvedev touched upon a number of key issues, including the Israeli-Iranian relations, START talks and the missile defense system.

He said Israel is not going to deliver any blows on Iran, as he was assured by Israeli President Shimon Peres during their recent meeting.

Medvedev said when he met Peres in Sochi last month, the Israeli president said "Israel does not intend to launch any strikes on Iran, we are a peaceful country and we will not do this."

Medvedev also confirmed a secret visit "in a close regime" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow earlier this month, whom he had conversation with, according to a transcript of the interview published by the Kremlin.

Yet he did not disclose any details of their meeting. Israeli media said Netanyahu was to discuss Moscow's arms deals with Iran and Syria during the visit.

When asked whether Russia would support Iran when Israel launched an attack, Medvedev said "Russia can not support anybody or act in such a situation," but it neither means that Russia "would like to be or will be impassible" before such "unreasonable" developments.

"But my Israeli colleagues told me that they were not planning to act in this way and I trust them," he said.

"Our task is not to strengthen Iran and weaken Israel or vice versa, but our task is to ensure a normal, calm situation in the Middle East," he said.