"We Italians are, with Germany, the main trading partners with Iran and engaged on the front line in Lebanon vis-a-vis Hezbollah" which enjoys Iranian backing, Massimo D'Alema told the Saturday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, reported by the Italian daily La Repubblica.

Italy is not one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council which, with Germany, have been seeking to end the confrontation over Tehran's nuclear programme, regarded by the West as a cover for the development of nuclear weapons.

D'Alema said the aim was "not a new conflict (with Iran) but discussions to stop Iran having an atomic bomb."

Asked about ways of battling Islamic extremism he said that "the idea of halting terrorism by war in order to attain a subsequent period of peace and democracy has obviously had no success."

He thought Germany, which has ruled out sending combat troops to southern Lebanon as part of the strengthened UN peacekeeping force, could contribute to the European presence in the war-ravaged Middle East country.

It could do so either with humanitarian and national reconstruction aid or by supporting the Lebanese army in its efforts to stop arms entering Lebanon "which does not concern the border with Israel."

The idea of the presence of German troops in Lebanon has provoked fierce debate in Germany because of the country's Nazi past and the prospect of German soldiers firing on Jewish forces.

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