Iran has vowed to 'retaliate' against any attack after
Israel's prime minister called for a 'red line' to prevent the Islamic republic
from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the
international community impose a red line on Iran to prevent it from enriching
enough uranium for a nuclear bomb.
He caused a stir by presenting a cartoonish diagram of a
bomb with three different levels on it, and a red line, during his speech to
the UN General Assembly.
'The hour is getting late, very late,' Netanyahu warned on
Thursday.
'At this late hour, there is only one way to peacefully
prevent Iran from getting atomic bombs - and that's by placing a clear red line
on Iran's nuclear weapons program.
'To be credible, a red line must be drawn first and foremost
in one vital part of their program - on Iran's efforts to enrich uranium.'
He then preceded to draw a red line through his cartoon bomb
at that threshold, completing the second stage with uranium enriched at 90 per
cent.
Iran's deputy UN ambassador, Eshagh al-Habib, exercised his
nation's right of reply and returned to the podium to brand Israel as a 'regime
which is based on terrorism and is the father founder of state terrorism in the
world'.
Al-Habib accused Netanyahu of making 'baseless allegations'
against Iran's 'exclusively peaceful' nuclear program.
He said his country 'is strong enough to defend itself and
reserves its full right to retaliate with full force against any attack'.
After his speech, Netanyahu met US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton met for 75 minutes one-on-one, with the US afterwards declaring
they 'share the goal' of stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
'They had an in-depth discussion on Iran, and reaffirmed
that the United States and Israel share the goal of preventing Iran from
acquiring a nuclear weapon,' a senior US State Department official said.
'They agreed that we will continue our close consultation
and cooperation toward achieving that goal.'
The speech came after US President Barack Obama said on
Tuesday that the United States would 'do what we must do' to head off an
Iranian bomb.
The UN Security Council has passed four rounds of sanctions
against Iran while the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany
and the European Union have sought to negotiate with the Islamic state.
Foreign ministers from the six-nation contact group met
after the speeches to discuss the crisis, and called on Iran to back down and
enter talks.
Netanyahu and Obama, who have testy relations, are to speak
by telephone on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment