BERLIN (AFP) - The Finnish presidency of the European Union called on Wednesday for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to explain his apparent admission that the Jewish state has nuclear weapons.

"I think that Mr. Olmert must explain more fully what this information means," Finnish Defense Minister Seppo Kaariainen said in German newspaper Berliner Zeitung.

Kaariainen said he hoped Olmert's words would not have a negative effect on the UN-led peacekeeping force deployed in Lebanon following the 34-day war between the Israeli army and Hezbollah this year.

"I hope above all else that the international crisis management that began in Lebanon in the summer can be continued without interference. "The EU will be watching very closely to see what reaction the Israeli explanation provokes."

Israel is widely considered the sole country in the Middle East to have nuclear weapons but has never confirmed or denied the suspicions.

But in an interview with a German television station on Monday, Olmert appeared to break the taboo.

"We never threatened any nation with annihilation," Olmert told the N24 rolling news channel.

"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 France, America, Russia and Israel?" he asked.