israel threatens Iran with "heavy price"

Israeli National Security Advisor Uzi Arada has threatened Iran with 'heavy' measures after reports of US augmentation of forces off Iran's coast.

Uzi Arad, senior advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Monday that he believes the situation with Iran may escalate; Tehran may have to pay a heavy price for what he called defying the world.

"Israel is being silent, on acting in the Middle East's fighting on terrorism, and therefore events that takes place in the region, are on the hype," Arad told a conference in the coast city of Herzliya.

Arad made the remarks as Israeli politicians have masterminded a wave of undercover operations and terror plots in numerous countries, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.

In the latest such incident the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, has been accused of assassinating senior Palestinian commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai on January 20.

Hamas officials say they have concrete evidence that Mossad staged the assassination.

Their claims have been somewhat supported by Dubai Police Chief Dhahi Khalfan. "It could be Mossad," AFP quoted police Chief Dhahi Khalfan as saying on Sunday.

The comments also come as Sunday media reports reveal that Tel Aviv's staunch ally has taken steps to increase the capability of land-based Patriot missiles on the territory of some of its Arab allies in the Persian Gulf region.

The buildup is revealed at a critical time in Tehran-Washington affairs. On Thursday, the US Senate passed a bill advocating tough sanctions on any entity, individual, company or even country, which deals in refined petroleum with Iran.

Washington accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and has for years levied sanctions and war threats to force the Tehran government into halting its nuclear activities.

Iran which has been under various US sanctions after the Islamic Revolution toppled a US-backed monarch in 1979 rejects the accusations as politically motivated.

Iran's nuclear program was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. After the 1979 Revolution, Western companies working on Iran's program refused to fulfill their obligations even though they had been paid in full.

Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, unlike some of its regional neighbors, has opened its enrichment plants to UN inspection. PressTV