(Adds denial by government spokeswoman, foreign minister) JERUSALEM, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared in an interview broadcast on Monday to acknowledge Israel has atomic weapons or aspirations to acquire them, but a government spokeswoman denied that was his intent. Israel has long declined to confirm or deny having the bomb as part of a "strategic ambiguity" policy that it says fends off numerically superior enemies. It is widely believed to be the sole nuclear power in the Middle East. "The most that we tried to get for ourselves is to be able to live without terror. But we never threatened any nation with annihilation," Olmert said in a German television interview shown on Israeli television. "Iran, openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?" Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisen, who accompanied the prime minister on a trip to Germany on Monday, said he did not mean to say that Israel possessed or aspired to acquire nuclear weapons. "No he wasn't saying anything like that," she said. Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark Regev said Olmert had meant to categorise the four nations as democracies to set them apart from Iran, and was not referring to their potential nuclear capabilities or aspirations. The subject of Israel's nuclear capability was raised last week by incoming U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who told a Senate confirmation hearing that Israel had atomic weapons. Gates on Tuesday said Iran might want an atomic bomb because it is "surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons: Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west and us in the Persian Gulf". The remark led Israeli news bulletins. Israeli state-run radio suggested Gates may have breached a U.S. "don't ask, don't tell" policy that dates to the late 1960s.
