Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rousing call to the international community to act on the increasing Iranian nuclear threat, as he met Thursday with a delegation of US Senators in Jerusalem on the eve of the latest round of talks with the Islamist regime in Almaty, telling them “we simply cannot allow a situation in which a regime that calls for our annihilation obtains the weapons of annihilation”.
Invoking the Iranian regime’s repeated attempts to delegitimise Israel he insisted that acting on these threats with the help of its suspected nuclear capabilities “must be prevented at all costs”.
Meanwhile arriving in Almaty Friday for the second session of P5+1 talks with Iran in the Kazakhsan city, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton stressed the international delegation intended to follow-up on its revised “clear and concise proposal for confidence building measures” presented to their Iranian counterparts last month ahead of further technical talks in Istanbul, as she reiterated the meeting was designed to receive an official response to these measures from the Iranian camp in order to determine “how we move forward”.
Ahead of the talks Thursday, key delegate members the US were keen to project a message of unity with its international allies, as state department spokesman Victoria Nuland insisted their revised offer constituted “a positive proposal on the table that would allow for step-by-step measures in the right direction”. Deflecting questioning on the latest claims from chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili from Almaty University that America had a duty to accept Iran’s right to enrich uranium, a major point of contention between Iran and the international community, she added that whilst “nobody was looking to deny Iran the right to civilian nuclear power, it has to be under the right circumstances”.
"We think our talks tomorrow can go forward with one word. That is the acceptance of the rights of Iran, particularly the right to enrichment," Jalili said Thursday in a speech at Almaty University, referring to the P5+1 negotiations. Despite a series of bilateral meetings between the Iranian delegation and representatives of the six world powers being scheduled for Friday afternoon, no such meeting is planned with the American delegation.
“Iran expects the U.S. to change its behaviour, and this will be tested in the coming negotiations. Anyone coming to negotiate should do so with reason and not with threats stating that all options are on the table,” he added, in comments unlikely to bridge the substantial gap between the Iranian and international position on the nuclear issue.
Last month, at a joint press conference with US President Barack Obama during the statesman’s official visit to Jerusalem, Netanyahu invoked the increasingly time-sensitive issue of the regional threat posed by a nuclear Iran, as he insisted that “Israel can never cede the right to defend ourselves to anyone, even to our friends, and Israel has no greater friend to the US”.
The US President responded by conceded its Middle Eastern ally had different security concerns to consider in determining the legitimacy of launching apre-emptive strike on Tehran. “Each country has to make its own decision when it comes to the awesome decision to engage in any kind of military action. Israel is differently situated than the US. I would not expect that the Prime Minister would make a decision about his country’s security and defer that to any other country, any more than the US would defer our decisions of what is important for our national security,” he said.
Inevitably, the Iranian issue was a key focal point for both leaders, as Netanyahu began his opening address to the media in expressing his gratitude for the US head of state’s “forthright position” on the Islamist regime’s “relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons”. Conceding his intentions were honourable in this regard, however, he stressed that “nothwithstanding our joint efforts and your great success in mobilising the international community diplomacy and sanctions have not yet halted Iran’s nuclear weapons program.”
Invoking Israel’s independent duty to protect its people against perceived threats to their existence, and in an apparent caution to Iran’s leaders, he added: “The Jewish people, only two generations ago, were once a powerless people, defenceless against those who sought our destruction. Today, we have both the rights and the capability to defend ourselves.”
Continuing with the rousing rhetoric he has espoused in recent months, as the international community increasingly loses patience with Iran’s resistance to complying with its international obligations, Obama added: “We do not have a policy of containment for Iran – our policy is to prevent it from achieving nuclear weapons. We prefer to resolve this diplomatically and there’s still time to do so. Iran’s leaders have to understand they have international obligations and the international community will continue to apply pressure to them to do so. All options are on the table, we will do what is necessary to stop Iran from getting the world’s worst weapons.”
“I am absolutely convinced that the President is determined to stop Iran from achieving nuclear weapons,” concurred the Israeli Premier,” as he stressed that he “has affirmed, more than any other President, the duty of Israel to defend itself against threats to its existence”. “Iran is a great threat to the state of Israel and the world. A nuclear Iran. We have different needs and we take those into account, but I think the President would agree that Israel has a right to defend itself independently,” he added.
During Obama's visit to Israel, Israeli President Shimon Peres told him: “We trust your policy, which calls to, first, by non-military -- to fight by non-military means with a clear statement that other options remain on the table. You made it clear that your intention is not to contain but to prevent.”