moqawama

Netanyahu: Avoid anti-Iran remarks

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Sun Feb 5, 2012

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned ministers from his center-right Likud political party to avoid making statements on a possible military attack against Iran, saying such remarks could be damaging to Israel.

"The chatter causes extensive damage, puts Israel on the front line and impedes the sanction efforts," Ynetnews quoted Netanyahu as saying during a Likud ministerial meeting in al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Sunday.

On February 2, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said if Western sanctions imposed against Iran fail to stop its nuclear program, military action against the country must be put on agenda.

Meanwhile, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon has threatened Iran with a military strike against its nuclear facilities in an attempt to force the Islamic Republic to abandon its nuclear activities.

Speaking at the 12th Annual Herzliya Conference in Israel last Thursday, he said that Iran's atomic sites are “within striking distance,” adding that “any facility defended by a human being can be penetrated."

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program. Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike against its nuclear facilities.

Iran argues that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has every right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence indicating that Tehran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

MP/HGH/IS