TEHRAN – Hawkish Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz has threatened amilitary operation against Iran with the help of the United States, SaudiArabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Katz said Israeli bombing in Iran was “an option,” making the most brazenthreat in years in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere dellaSera Saturday on the sidelines of the MediterraneanDialogues (MED) conference in Rome.

“If Iran crosses the ‘red line’, it will discover a uniform front betweenSaudi Arabia, UAE and the United States, which will launch hundreds ofTomahawk missiles at Tehran,” he said.

By the red line, Katz meant, “We will not allow Iran to acquire orstockpile nuclear weapons. If that is the last option – we will actmilitarily.”

Iran has repeatedly enunciated its nuclear program as exclusively civilian,subject to the most intensive UN supervision ever.

Unlike Israel, Iran is a signatory to the Treaty of the Non-Proliferationof Nuclear Weapons (NPT), whose aim is to prevent the spread of nucleararms and weapons technology.

Israel is the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, butmaintains a policy of ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying its atomicbombs.

Nevertheless, Tel Aviv is estimated to have between 200 and 400atomic warheads in its arsenal.