JERUSALEM, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that Israel's stance on the Iranian nuclear issue would not change despite a U.S. report released last week.

    According to local daily Yedioth Ahronoth's website, Olmert made the comment at Sunday's security cabinet meeting. This is his first official response to the U.S. intelligence report, which determined that Iran had halted its development of nuclear weapons in 2003.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Dec. 9, 2007. He said on Sunday that Israel's stance on the Iranian nuclear issue would not change despite a U.S. report released last week.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    Olmert was quoted as saying that Israeli intelligence officials had not been convinced that Israel's position on the Iranian program should change.

    "Iran is continuing to pursue the two vital components needed for a nuclear weapons program -- developing and advancing their rocket arsenal and enriching uranium," said the prime minister.

    He added that, Israel will continue to cooperate with the United States and other nations on the diplomatic track as well as the intelligence one to monitor Iran's actions closely.

    The latest National Intelligence Estimate, the formal consensus of all 16 U.S. spy agencies, was released on Monday.

    The report said that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in2003, a stark reversal of previous intelligence assessments that Iran was actively moving towards the development of a bomb.

    The U.S. and Israel accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran, which has always denied the charges, insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

    The U.N. Security Council has issued two resolutions against Iran's nuclear program since last December, but both of them failed to persuade Iran to give up uranium enrichment work.