WORLD> Middle East
|
WORLD> Middle East
|
|
US, Israel call for more int'l pressure against Iran
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-04 10:25 WASHINGTON -- Top officials of the United States and Israel Tuesday reiterated their calls for increasing international pressure on Iran. "Our partners in Europe and beyond need to exploit Iran's vulnerabilities more vigorously and impose greater costs on the regime economically, financially, politically and diplomatically," Rice told a policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israeli lobby group. "A regime that denies the Holocaust, threatens and murders its neighbors citizens, and seeks to destroy a member of the United Nations should not be allowed to cross the nuclear threshold," Rice said, referring to strong anti-Israel statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Citing Iran's insistence to hold its nuclear right, Rice also said that there's no point in talking to Iran's government "while they continue to inch closer to a nuclear weapon." True diplomacy "is not a synonym for talking," but must be combined with pressure tactics, Rice noted. Despite its refusal to have talks with Iran over nuclear issues, Washington denied speculation that the US may resort to military strike against Iran, and says it remains ready to talk to Iran about improving security in Iraq. Visiting Olmert also told the conference that "Israel will not tolerate the possibility of a nuclear Iran, and neither should any other country in the free world." "The Iranian threat must be stopped by all possible means. International economic and political sanctions on Iran, as crucial as they may be, are only an initial step, and must be dramatically increased," Olmert said. The United States, Israel and other Western countries fear that Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons secretly. Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. The UN Security Council has imposed a series of sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program since December 2006. |
