Aug 5 (Reuters) - Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former general who has said war with his native Iran could be "unavoidable", launched a campaign on Tuesday to succeed Ehud Olmert as head of their party and prime minister.

Following are facts about Mofaz:

* Mofaz, 59, secured a reputation for toughness in crushing a Palestinian uprising launched in 2000, first as military chief of staff and later as defence minister. His troops fought bloody battles with militants in Jenin and other West Bank cities.

* Now transport minister, he is one of two frontrunners in a Sept. 17 election for leadership of the centrist Kadima party but trails Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in opinion polls. He was a founder of Kadima, along with then premier Ariel Sharon, Olmert and Livni, who bolted from the right-wing Likud in 2005.

* Mofaz was born in Tehran in 1948 and emigrated to Israel in 1957. Drafted into the army, he was a paratrooper who fought in three Middle East wars, rising to deputy commander of the 1976 raid to free Israeli hostages held in Entebbe, Uganda.

* If he were to become prime minister, Mofaz would be the first not born in Europe or in territory which is now Israel, a symbolic breakthrough for Jews born elsewhere in the Middle East.

* Mofaz said in Washington last week he would pursue peace talks if he became prime minister. "As a father who has three children in the military, I want peace for them," he said.

* In early June, Mofaz said: "If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it ... Attacking Iran in order to stop its nuclear plans will be unavoidable." Last week, he pressed Western powers to stiffen sanctions against Tehran unless it froze its nuclear work: "It is a race against time," he said. "And time is winning." (Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Alistair Lyon and Alastair Macdonald)

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