Israel: Iran Uranium Enrichment Must Stop

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office, Monday, May 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Gali Tibbon, Pool)

JERUSALEM — Israel on Wednesday accused Iran of stalling in negotiations over its nuclear program with the international community, and said an upcoming round of talks can succeed only if the Iranians agree to halt all uranium enrichment.

Israel is staking out a hardline stance ahead of the May 23 talks in Baghdad, where six world powers will sit down with Iranian officials in hopes of resolving the standoff. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who considers a nuclear-armed Tehran to be a mortal threat, has hinted he would order an attack on Iran if he concludes that international diplomacy and sanctions have failed.

Israel, like the West, believes Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb. Enriched uranium is a key ingredient in an atomic weapon, although it can also be used in energy production and for medical isotopes. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Iran held a first nuclear meeting with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany last month in Turkey. The sides hailed the meeting as a key step forward and agreed to meet again in Baghdad.

Netanyahu told the visiting EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, on Wednesday that Iran is "playing for time" with these talks, an Israeli official said.

Netanyahu said the talks will be successful only if Iran agrees to halt all uranium enrichment, ship its current stockpile of enriched uranium out of the country and dismantle an underground enrichment facility near the city of Qom. He demanded a "clear timeline" for implementation, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.

Israel says a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran would threaten the very existence of the Jewish state. It cites Iranian calls for Israel's destruction, Iran's support for anti-Israel militant groups and Iran's development of missiles capable of striking Israel.

The official would not say whether Netanyahu presented any ultimatums to Ashton.

But Israeli officials have said time is running out for military action. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said Iran will soon enter an "immunity zone" in which military action will no longer be an option.

The United States has urged Israel to refrain from attacking, saying that international pressure must be given time to work. A new set of tough economic sanctions is set to go into effect in the coming months, and officials fear an Israeli attack could set off a regional war.

The Israeli official said Netanyahu's new deputy prime minister, Shaul Mofaz, attended Wednesday's meeting.

Mofaz, the former opposition leader, has spoken out in the past against a unilateral Israeli strike, saying any action should be coordinated with the Americans.

But now that Mofaz, an ex-military chief and defense minister, is a member of Netanyahu's inner circle, he could give the military option an influential boost of support if he changes his mind.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[IranianDude]

01:02 AM on 06/27/2012

Could someone translate this to Hebrew for me?

Dear Bibi,

Go --k yourself!

Signed,
Everyone except the genocidal regime of Israel

[jo smith456]

03:31 PM on 05/28/2012

the "best" peace solution in the Middle East, "no country should have nuclear weapons or any country should be allowed to have nuclear weapons". Anything less or more is just hypocrisy.

You don't have to be a rocket (nuclear?) scientist why this will work.

[YourMindsEye]

02:15 AM on 05/28/2012

It is evident that Obama will sit on his hands untill the Iranians have nuclear weapons. Then it will be too late. He will whine that he inherited this mess, and blame the previous administration like he has for everything else.

I did not support Obama in the last election, nor will I this time. From the things he said he was going to do, I knew he was not qualified for the job. His domestic plans have been financially tragic for Middle Class Americans. However, what scared me the most was his lack of experience in foreign affairs.

His failure to address Iranian and N Korean nuclear ambitions attest my fears were correct. These are 2 mentally unstable regimes, especially Iran because of there radical Islamic beliefs. If they get the bomb, they will use it on Israel the first chance they get.

It is a given that Obama will not use the military to stop Iran. That leaves it up to Netanyahu and Israel. For the good of the world, and their own survival, may they launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran, ASAP.

[Andre De Angelis]

12:22 AM on 05/29/2012

>> It is evident that Obama will sit on his hands untill the Iranians have nuclear weapons.

It wodl be evidence if there was evidence Iran was producing nukes, which ain't so.

>> His failure to address Iranian and N Korean nuclear ambitions attest my fears were correct.

How did Bush address them? Oh that's right, he didn't.

[NorthernBorder]

06:44 AM on 05/15/2012

Mofaz and most of the serious defence high rankers are not againt getting rid of the dreams of the Iranians ( by bombing or some other means - we havent actually told the detailed plans yet, personally I work out a different way every night before sleep). They all want to wait so we arent regarded again as being defenders and not as aggresors. This also Baraks idea and it would obviously be better if the USA helped. They all will change their minds including Obama when the Iranians go one steo further. ( they are already designing the actual bomb if you just happens to read headlines in huge black letters). Time is running out for the Iranians
Our destruction is just one of their aims. Hitting the Sunnis and occupation of Bahrain Saudi Iraq, Kuwait is the other - under an Atomic umbrella they cant do anything and neither can the US whose enonomy plus the European economy will be back in the 19th century. I dont believe the US will ever return to Iraq. Iraq is one country, weak, ie Jordan from our borders. I wish all these bomb sceptics and Iran lovers would just look at the map.Wake up - we are the most vocal but all the other countries are busy arming to their teeth. With a bomb aboard they will just walk in WAKE UP _- ITS NOT ONLY THE JEWS. BUT we are the ONLY ones to do it without the USA.

[Abdullahiedward]

06:33 PM on 05/18/2012

Predictable nonsense!

[NorthernBorder]

06:47 PM on 05/18/2012

you may have time too see - we dont

[douglasreed]

11:29 AM on 05/14/2012

Israel must stop its uranium enrichment and the building of its undeclared nuclear arsenal.

The largest (undeclared) stash of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the world is not in Iran, Lebanon or Syria, but in Israel itself. There is no other state in the world that has amassed an arsenal containing up to an estimated 400 nuclear warheads all of which are outside the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and not subject to IAEA inspection.

Neither Syria nor Lebanon, nor Egypt, nor Gaza, nor Iran, nor Jordan have any nuclear weapons. They are all non-nuclear states which could be wiped out by Israel's nuclear arsenal in two to three hours. Israel would then still have enough WMD to wipe out the rest of the Middle East and most of Europe. It has an estimated stockpile larger than even Britain or France!

Who needs inspection and control? Israel with its threats to attack nearly all of its neighbors, or non-nuclear Iran, who hasn't attacked anyone?

[NorthernBorder]

06:57 AM on 05/15/2012

Just BTW if (has ve halila arabic)) bomb DOES fall on TA half the population of the Palestinians would perish. ( when the Iraqis threw missiles at my family, the Palestinians danced on their roofs. This time at least they wont be dancing - they wont be.

[bostonians]

04:32 AM on 05/14/2012

Iran's aggressiveness is the threat No 1 not only to Israel but to the whole world. It should stop playing with fire at once.

[scispok]

12:54 PM on 05/14/2012

Ignorance of Truth, of which you display here, is the #1 threat to the world.

[dogpaddle47]

07:47 PM on 05/14/2012

And, you should stop watching Faux NoNews at once.

[wwoody]

09:07 PM on 05/12/2012

Israel is not capable of attacking Iran successfully without the help of the United States, plus neither don't want to risk an all out war in the region. As far as the sanction are concern Iran say they have enough foreign money for five years. Once the United States and rest of world put in place sanction closing the front door, the back door open up...buying goods and services from other countries.

[FerFree]

07:30 PM on 05/11/2012

"Immunity zone"? Israel plans to keep all options on the table vis-a-vis Iran. So Israel is threatening to use their nuclear weapons against a sovereign country. And the world wonders why the US went to war with Iraq. One reason was payback for the few Scuds hitting Israel from the first Iraq war in Kuwait. Also, the Iraqi people (children) had to be starved for a few years too. Familiar, no? Soon the likelihood of a no-fly zone will be used to box Iran in and so Israel can have a more dominant role. And then what? Does the Israeli government want to have all the trouble of attacking the Iranians? The US is the only one with the equipment and naval capabilities beyond the Israeli forces. So we go along with this strategy. Does anyone think Israel doesn't want this war? Even though the Iranian government has cut Achmenidinijad's power the Israeli war preparations are rapidly growing. The airfields north of Iran prepared by the Israeli air force, outside of Baku, are virtually ready. It will greatly depend on Obama's hutzpah to stop Israel. Or to throw his cards in with the Zionists. He's sent a second carrier group to the Gulf. Looks like he's already decided and lots of Iranians and a few Israelis will pay the price. Or will it last a lot longer than either Iraq or Afghanistan? Then the price will be the better part of the future of the US.

[austinreid]

11:13 AM on 05/12/2012

I love how you turned Iran’s mistakes into Israel’s fault. Even though Iran’s leadership at times acts as irrational as a two year old I assure you they are all grownups and every decision they have made is their fault alone. Israel is not responsible for what Iran does, it is not Israel’s fault that Iran will not abide to the terms of the NNPT that they freely agreed to. Israel was not threatening Iran with nuclear weapons all that was said is soon Iran will be so far along with their nuclear program that military options will no longer work to stop it. Also it was more then a "few" scds try hundreds.

[the-saint]

11:36 PM on 05/12/2012

what an idiotic response....what are they not abiding by...z man...your dictates..

do what we Zs say or else....

[NorthernBorder]

07:07 AM on 05/15/2012

Do you work for Walt Disney??? ( for one - I remeber only too well) the missiles came AFTER the attack on Iraq. My whole family being in my anne frank cupboard-like bomb shelter - except the dog who was in the study. He cant tell you - he died of cancer and didnt even smoke. We all wore gas masks which we imagined smelled of gas and we all had our antropine injection at the ready - so enjoy your life my friend - my kind friend

[FerFree]

01:15 PM on 05/16/2012

I am sorry for your wartime experiences. The US previously had Iraq as its ally for many years. The US supplied both Iran and Iraq with weapons in their war. The attack on Iraq after the first Gulf War came after a strict embargo and an enforced no fly zone. Hussein wanted to drag Israel into war after his disastrous invasion of Kuwait for the regional support. Israel wisely stayed on the sideline. But not in the second war. We in the US were lied to repeatedly about Iraq wanting to invade us, even in their weakened state, and that they would use chemical and nuclear weapons at any moment. It was a carefully orchestrated propaganda effort. Neither weapon was found after the invasion.
The US and Israeli militaries are incredibly strong. Both are working very hard right now to prepare for a war with Iran. We hear some of the same rhetoric about Iran that deceived our people into a false war. The Iranians are not being affected severely by the embargos yet but you can imagine their fear of being attacked. This war momentum is so despicable to me. And if the US and Israel use their militaries against Iran don't you agree that it could result in a far worse outcome for so many more people, especially Israelis? Don't you fell there is a better way to solve this problem?

[PermanentVacancy]

11:20 AM on 05/11/2012

Iran hawks are taking every opportunity to paint Iran and its government as caricatures of irrational, untrustworthy, genocidal, suicidal lunatics - serial liars and deceivers bent on world domination - despite the protestations of top U.S. and Israeli officials, among them IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, Mossad head Tamir Pardo, U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Defense Intelligence Agency Director General Ron Burgess and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former IDF head Dan Halutz, who insist that Iran is a rational state actor, guided, like any other sovereign government, by self-preservation and strategic cost-benefit analysis.

[austinreid]

11:19 AM on 05/12/2012

Well I don't think any of them said Iran was trustworthy Iran is not all you have to do is look at their past agreements and how well they have kept them. Let’s use this current issue of a nuclear weapons program, under the NNPT that Iran agreed to they gave up their right to a nuclear weapons program, and yet they are currently trying to obtain nuclear weapons.

[Abdullahiedward]

06:21 PM on 05/18/2012

If you want to compare countries by their qualities of trutworthyness and agreement keeping, I think you'll find the USA and Israel lead the pack in breeching trust and breaking agreements. Iran is not only far superior to these two countries in these two specific qualities, they also have a more realistic claim to the moral high ground so often claimed by the other two protagonist.

[PermanentVacancy]

11:18 AM on 05/11/2012

In their second volume of "Major Problems in American Foreign Relations," published in 2010, Dennis Merrill and Thomas Paterson explain that Western cultural representations of the Third World are so steeped in "'orientalist' tones - exotic yet primitive, weak, female, childlike, racially inferior, and in need of supervision" that "Cold War era policymakers were themselves socially conditioned and often viewed others through the Orientalist lens" and "tended to perceive fiery Third World nationalists...as emotionally unstable, politically immature, and threatening to U.S. interests." Consequently, "[t]hese perceptions justified policies designed to control Third World nationalism and equated self-interested U.S. intervention with parental or civilizational duty."

[Nico Jordaan]

03:52 AM on 05/11/2012

Weapons grade uranium is enriched to 60-85%, 20% is hardly anything to even think of using in weapons technology. Iran has the Full legal right to pursue nuclear technologies. For a country with well over 200 Nuclear Warheads and Chemical Weapons to point fingers to Iran is the most hypocritical thing they can do. This has more to do with Iran oil sales via its own IOB in non-petrodollars, then nuclear WMD. Iran is breaking the US dollars back this is very dangerous to both the US and Israeli and most Western economies, IRAN being the second biggest producer in OPEC. The 2.5 Million barrels Iran sells daily in non-dollars is costing the US about $80Million a day in lost ravenous due to demand drops ect...Follow the MONEY!!! :)

[NorthernBorder]

07:19 AM on 05/15/2012

from 20% to 85% is a very quick process. From 0% 20% is years Think its not 85 % but over 90%
20% is way above the need for electricity and way way above x-ray. People in the left still believe that they have enriched tons of uranium in 12 plants for billions of dollars is for experimental purposes.
Reminds me of a kibbutz which was in an area where growing pig was forbidden - they now supply tons of pig products througout the country "for experimental reasons only!"

[NorthernBorder]

07:21 AM on 05/15/2012

I regard myself to be in the new left - but not that new

[Geo80]

06:26 PM on 05/10/2012

LOL at the frothing Israel-haters who are upset that Israel can successfully defend itself from jihadists.

Wahhhh!

[Aussieposter]

07:43 PM on 05/10/2012

Actually......I think my situation is that I believe that the world would be a much safer place to live in if neither Iran and Israel had Nuclear Weapons. At the moment only Israel has them and I do not trust Netanyahu not to use them.

[NorthernBorder]

07:26 AM on 05/15/2012

So what are you saying - you trust the Ayatollas and Ahmanijad. I would not trust our ultra-orthodox why would you trust theirs? Would you trust some Chistian Evangelist sending all to heaven ( except us) we go the other place for the fun apparently?

[Vlad Roudenko]

07:44 PM on 05/10/2012

Defend itself? Interesting choice of words. It is always on the offensive and almost always against civilians not uniformed military or even armed groups. Here is the funny thing about IDF: A bunch of Israelis were bragging how powerful IDF is but it came to light that they wear adult diapers to combat and were using paintball guns when they stormed that Turkish ship a few years ago. Some elite military force :))

[NorthernBorder]

07:30 AM on 05/15/2012

They didnt have weapons because thay didnt want to cause death and fourt galantly against gangsters - only when the Turks pulled out weapons did our guys shoot and then not to kill. I told a close friend in a similar unit that if he didnt kill in such a situation I wouldnt have talked to him for a year

[NorthernBorder]

07:32 AM on 05/15/2012

You have absolutely know idea what they do - neither do I

[tallndumb]

04:14 PM on 05/10/2012

Iran is surrounded by 22 American military bases. Imagine the whining and uproar from Israel if they were surrounded by 22 Russian or Chinese bases. Iran also has a not so distant neighbor who has illegal nukes and a habit of stealing land and attacking other nations.
The whining from AIPAC would be deafening if Israel were in the spot that Iran is.

[robertstone1robert]

01:11 PM on 05/10/2012

Iran is playing for time with these talks. Bibi has to see through this administration's subterfuges in avoiding to make a decision.

Iran threatened the US and Israel countless times. Why are they not to be believed about their intentions? We risk Iran's duplicating another Hitler with the many lives we lost defeating him.

[Dainsker]

02:23 PM on 05/10/2012

Exactly when did Iran threaten the US? Also, why should the US care if Iran threatened Israel? What does or has Israel done other than cost the US BILLIONS of tax payer dollars per year & to bully & buy our elected officials to ensure they allow Israel to treat us & the Pali's horribly, as well as get us to fight your battles for you.

[robertstone1robert]

03:21 PM on 05/10/2012

Apparently you don't read the papers. You belong to the ignorance is bliss form of education. We depend on Israel to do the monitoring of that part of the world for us. We know we can always use their facilities.
We give $1.5 billion in aid to the Egyptians. They are our allies? We just gave $142 million dollars to the Palis. They are our friends? Finally, we expended so many lives not to mention money to prop up the govt. in Afghanistan. Israel has never asked that we dispatch any personnel there. It is our friend. I believe in sticking by my friends in time of need. You most likely have no friends. You would sell them down the river in the blink of an eye.

[tallndumb]

03:37 PM on 05/10/2012

Another inane holocaust reference implying that Israel is granted a different set of rules because of the holocaust. The holocaust is over, done and paid for.

[Tony Andrews]

10:30 PM on 05/10/2012

It is vitally important never to forget the Holocaust, but that is not the same as never shutting up about it.

[NorthernBorder]

07:38 AM on 05/15/2012

Everyday at 4-45 on reshet beth, people phone in still looking for lost ones - for us the holocaust will never end - not in a thousnd years. When you under stand that you may begin to understand us. When the lady across the road stops screaming every night, its notthe end.

[lbsaltzman]

11:02 AM on 05/10/2012

How about Israel stops enriching uranium and admits they have a couple hundred nuclear weapons and a missile delivery system. Otherwise this is utter hypocrisy on Israel's part.

[Vlady]

11:36 AM on 05/10/2012

How about 'lbsaltzman' reveal his identity and start a new life in Colorado.

[pomegrante]

12:08 PM on 05/10/2012

Why Colorado? It is beautiful...do you want him as your neighbor Vlady?

[Geo80]

06:15 PM on 05/10/2012

The ability of Israel to defend itself makes lbsaltzman mad.

This is good. Go Israel.

[Revver]

11:38 PM on 05/10/2012

....to..grave yard.