The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, goes to Israel tomorrow to try to persuade the Jewish state to open up its nuclear programme, but officials said Israel was not ready to scrap its atomic arsenal.

Under its policy of ?strategic ambiguity?, Israel neither admits nor denies having nuclear weapons. But it is assumed to have up to 200 warheads, based on estimates of the amount of plutonium Israeli reactors have produced.

While no breakthroughs are expected, one Western diplomat close to the IAEA said ElBaradei would meet senior Israeli officials, possibly including prime minister Ariel Sharon.

IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said it would be partly a ?routine visit?, but added that ElBaradei intended ?to promote the concept of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East?.

Israel welcomes the idea of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction but says disarmament has to come after peace has been achieved in the region, which has been plagued by violence and conflict for decades. A diplomat close to the IAEA went even further: ?No Middle East peace process can work until we deal with the issue of weapons of mass destruction.?

Until recently, diplomats in Vienna said ElBaradei might try to persuade Israel to acknowledge it has nuclear weapons as a first step towards disarmament. But Israeli officials and diplomats in Vienna now say this will not happen.