Israel will act against Iran on its own should the international community fail to thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions through diplomatic means, President Isaac Herzog warned the United States on Sunday.
“If the international community does not take a vigorous stance on this issue, Israel will do so,” Herzog told US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides. “Israel will protect itself.”
The two men, who met during a small ceremony in which Herzog accepted the American diplomat’s credentials, came two days after the seventh round of indirect talks between the US and Tehran to revive the 2015 Iran deal appeared to end in failure.
Iran and the European Union have spoken of renewed talks next week, but the US has been uncertain these negotiations will take place in the near future.
“We are closely following the international community’s recent negotiations with Iran,” Herzog said.
Israel has opposed the deal and warned the US to halt the talks. Herzog clarified that Israel would “welcome a comprehensive, diplomatic solution that permanently solves the Iranian nuclear threat.”
He stressed, however, “in the case of a failure to achieve such a solution, Israel is keeping all options on the table.”
Nides told Herzog the US was committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
“I call on every country negotiating with Iran in Vienna to take a strong line and make it clear to Iran that they cannot enrich uranium and negotiate at the same time,” Bennett said at the weekly cabinet meeting. “Our goal is to utilize the window of opportunity that has opened between the rounds in order to tell our friends in the US: this is precisely the time to use a different tool kit against Iran’s galloping forward in the enrichment sphere. There is a time for everything. A time to keep silent and a time to speak up. Now is the time to speak up.”
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