JERUSALEM, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Israel's intelligence minister distanced himself on Sunday from the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist last week that Tehran blamed on agents of Israel and the United States.

I don't know this subject and I would not want to discuss it at all, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor told Israel Radio, remarks that ended the government's blanket silence on the Jan. 11 car-bombing that killed Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan.

The United States was quick to disavow the killing.

Meridor, the cabinet minister responsible for intelligence and nuclear affairs, said Israel was not the only regional power seeking to deny Iran - which insists its uranium enrichment is for peaceful needs only - the means of making a bomb.

I think the campaign against Iran is a very important, serious and broad campaign, he said. The desire to prevent Iran nuclearizing is an interest of almost all Arab countries, with the exception, perhaps, of Syria. (Writing by Dan Williams)