Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu expressed renewed concerns about the lack of movement in diplomacy towards stabilising the Iranian nuclear threat ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of international political directors in Brussels, as he warned that the despite the election of a new “moderate” President last month, “Iran is continuing to press quickly forward on developing a military nuclear capability”.
Cautioning of the devastating implications this could have beyond the immediate region for the West, he called on his allies to recognise “it is important to intensify the economic sanctions and place a credible military option before Iran”.
He told an American audience on CBS News’s Face the Nation that regarding the 20% enriched uranium, Iran was just 60 kilograms short of crossing his “red line.”
He defined this line – beyond which the Iranians should not be allowed to proceed – as being the possession of 250 kg. of 20% enriched uranium, enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb. He said they now had 190 kg., up from about 110 six to eight months ago.
Netanyahu said the Iranians were also building “faster centrifuges that would enable them to jump the line at a much faster rate. That is, within a few weeks.”
“They’re getting closer,” he said. “They should understand that they’re not going to be allowed to cross it.”
Asked when he would make a decision to attack, Netanyahu responded: “I can tell you I won’t wait until it’s too late.” He added that it was “important to understand that we cannot allow it to happen,” and that the Israeli and US clocks on this matter were “ticking at a different pace.”
“We’re closer [to Iran] than the United States,” he said. “We’re more vulnerable. And therefore, we’ll have to address this question of how to stop Iran, perhaps before the United States does. But as the Prime Minister of Israel, I’m determined to do whatever is necessary to defend my country, the one and only Jewish state, from a regime that threatens us with renewed annihilation.”
Heading the high-level meeting of so-called E3+3 political directors (also known as the P5+1, consisting of France, the US, the UK, China and Russia, plus Germany) will be EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, whose spokesman Michael Mann last week confirmed the purpose of the latest talks was to “discuss how to move forward in the Iranian nuclear file”. New western-educated Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani formerly headed Iran’s negotiating team in talks with the west from 2003-2005.
However, Mann seemingly sought to downplay the significance of the timing of such talks in the near aftermath of his election, conceding only that the international community was “keen to make concrete progress in the talks following the election of the new president”.
Israel has preached a cautious approach to Rouhani’s election, describing his entrance into office at Israeli President Shimon Peres’ annual presidential conference last month as a sign only that “the people of Iran want a better tomorrow”. However, despite acknowledging the call for change, he stressed the onus was controversial former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s successor to guarantee his people their rights.
Warning of a likely continuation of its rhetoric to date, centring on an insistence on its right to maintain its nuclear capabilities, however, he added that “we may be seeing a change in style, but not a change in substance”. Echoing EU and American rhetoric that the ball is now in Iran’s court as to the course future policy will take to address the international community’s concerns about the nature of the regime’s nuclear ambitions, he concluded: “the test is not what they say, but what they do. And what they have to do is to abide by the international demands, stop all enrichment at all levels, remove the nuclear material that’s already been enriched and shut down the illicit nuclear facilities. I say to the international community: keep up the pressure, keep up the pressure and keep to those demands. This is fundamental for international security, and it’s fundamental for our security.”
Elsewhere, in a meeting with Ashton herself during her tour of the Middle East region last month, the Israeli PM insisted that “the elections in Iran will be tested by whether Iran changes its policies and stops all enrichment, takes out the nuclear material and shuts down the illicit nuclear facility in Qom”, in line with UN Security Council requirements.
“It's not a question of political spin, but the spinning of centrifuges. That has to stop, and I think that it is important that Europe joins the United States and Israel and all responsible elements of the international community, and demand a cessation of the Iranian nuclear program,” he added.
Netanyahu’s tone was yet-more unyielding at a meeting of his cabinet last month when he warned against “deluding ourselves” as to the significance of the outcome of the Iranian elections and its implications for diplomacy with the West. “The international community must not become caught up in wishes and be tempted to relax the pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program. It must be remembered that the Iranian ruler, at the outset, disqualified candidates who did not fit his extremist outlook and from among those whose candidacies he allowed was elected the candidate who was seen as less identified with the regime, who still defines the State of Israel as "the great Zionist Satan,” he said.
“Over the last twenty years, the only thing that has led to a temporary freeze in the Iranian nuclear program was Iran's concern over aggressive policy against it in 2003. Iran will be judged by its actions. If it continues to insist on developing its nuclear program, the answer needs to be very clear – stopping the nuclear program by any means,” he concluded.