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JERUSALEM - Israel tested a missile on Thursday and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged the West to work harder to prevent "the appearance of a nuclear Iran".
Oil briefly rose almost US$1 to above US$92 a barrel on news of the test, which came three days after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Jewish state would consider all options to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Israel, Washington's staunchest ally in the Middle East, says Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2010 and that an Iranian nuclear weapon would threaten Israel's existence.
In Moscow, Livni said Russian deliveries of nuclear fuel to Iran might help Tehran develop nuclear weapons.
The West fears Iran is seeking an atom bomb - a charge Tehran denies. It says it aims only to generate electricity.
Israel's Defence Ministry said in a brief statement: "A successful missile launch was carried out within the framework of examining rocket propulsion."
Israel Radio said the missile tested was capable of carrying an "unconventional payload". Defence experts say this means it could carry a nuclear warhead.
Israel Radio quoted unidentified foreign reports as saying Israel was developing the Jericho III long-range surface-to-surface missile.
The radio report said Israel has carried out tests to improve anti-missile systems to intercept both short- and medium-range rockets, including Katyusha rockets used by Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and missiles in Iran's arsenal.
Amateur photos posted on Israeli news websites showed a white plume in the sky above central Israel.
The Hebrew YNet news website quoted unnamed defence officials as saying the test had been "dramatic".
Israel is believed to have atomic arms and foreign analysts have said for many years that its Jericho I and Jericho II missiles can carry nuclear warheads.
The West suspects Iran is secretly seeking an atom bomb under cover of what Tehran says is a civilian programme.
The United Nations Security Council has imposed two rounds of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt enrichment - a process which has potential civilian or military uses.
But five permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - and Germany are split over how to proceed after a US intelligence estimate said Tehran halted its nuclear weapons efforts in 2003.
Foreign ministers from the six countries will meet in Berlin on Tuesday to debate Iran strategy.
"There are open questions Iran urgently needs to resolve to re-establish lost trust," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Vienna before meeting head of the UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei.
Israel's Livni said on a visit to Moscow that Russia's first shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran's first power plant in Bushehr "may serve military goals".
Livni said in a speech at the Russian Diplomatic Academy quoted by news agencies UN sanctions had put "certain pressure" on Tehran, but their effect "has not been critical".
"Those taking decisions on Iran are being watched by everyone in our region, including Israel and moderate Arab regimes," she said. "We expect the world will not allow the appearance of a nuclear Iran."
But Russia and China appear reluctant to support a third round of sanctions on Iran after the US report.
China hinted at continued distaste for steps to isolate Iran, a major source of oil for Beijing.
"We hope Iran will be able to abide by the relevant Security Council resolutions (demanding enrichment halt) and continue to show flexibility and fully co-operate with the international community," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is in Beijing for talks and US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is also visiting China for discussions that will feature Iran.
Jalili said the West had failed to put pressure on Iran. "Those countries who so far have been after imposing sanctions and putting pressure on Iran have not achieved any success," he told Iran's official IRNA news agency at the start of his visit.
But Negroponte said the intelligence estimate did not mean tough sanctions were not needed. "We think it's important that there be an additional Security Council resolution, because Iran is out of compliance with previously passed resolutions."
- REUTERS
