Binyamin Netanyahu, the front-runner to become the next Israeli Prime Minister, today warned that Iran’s “100-yard dash” to securing nuclear weapons is a graver danger to the world than the global economic crisis.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, before Israel’s election in 12 days, Mr Netanyahu claimed that Tehran was now close to securing an atomic bomb, and was in a “100-yard dash” to the finish line in the race to obtain the weapon.

Mr Netanyahu said that despite all its intractable problems, the financial and economic crisis would ultimately prove reversible and be beaten by governments and central banks.

But in an ominous alert to world leaders, he said: “What is not reversible is the acquisition of nuclear weapons by a fanatic radical regime committed to a pre-medieval view of the world.

“We have never had, since the dawn of the nuclear age, nuclear weapons in the hands of such a fanatical regime.”

In hawkish comments designed to bolster his tough credentials in the forthcoming polls in Israel, Mr Netanyahu said that efforts by him and others to secure peace across the Middle East would be scuppered if Tehran secured usable nuclear weapons.

Insisting that he wanted to “move rapidly to advance a workable peace”, with moderates in the Palestinian Authority and to “drive down the radicals”, the former Israeli finance minister went on: “All of this will fall by the wayside if the world fails to stop Iran from arming itself with nuclear weapons.

“It was and remains the greatest challenge facing the leaders of the 21st century at the beginning of the 21st century.”

Iran has denied it is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and says it is pursuing nuclear power for peaceful uses. It also denied it is engaged in terrorism, instead accusing Israel of terrorist policies against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, which were occupied by Israel after the 1967 Mideast War.

In a discussion on leadership alongside David Cameron, the British Conservative Party leader, Mr Netanyahu said that three qualities were required to be a successful national leader: vision, usable political power, and political courage.

“Unless you have the big three - the vision, the power and the guts - it is not going to happen,” he said.

He outlined a proposed economic strategy for Israel including more stringent control of government spending, steep cuts in taxes, and a series of measure to enhance his country’s international competitiveness, including the building of a new highway to connect Israel’s two coastlines.

“My vision is that we can use this crisis to complete reforms so that Israel becomes one of the ten most competitive economies in the world,” he said.

George Mitchell, President Barack Obama's new Middle East envoy, was meeting Ehud Olmert, the incumbent Prime Minister, in Israel.

Mr Olmert was reported to have told the envoy that Israel would be willing to evacuate some 60,000 settlers in the West Bank and hand over much of east Jerusalem as part of any permanent peace arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians.

But that policy would be thrown into doubt if Likud and Mr Netanyahu win. The latest election polls show Likud ahead of Mr Olmert's centrist Kadima party and its candidate for prime minister, Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister, by about five seats in the 120-seat parliament. Mr Olmert, who is facing corruption allegations, is stepping down.

Polls show Likud and other hawkish parties winning a majority in the parliament, giving Mr Netanyahu the best chance to form a government.

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