Impose tougher sanctions against Iran, urges Israel
Israel has called for stiffer economic sanctions against Iran and hinted that military option was still open following no progress in talks between world powers and Tehran over the Islamic republic's alleged nuclear weapon programme.
"It is time for the United States and Western powers to impose more severe sanctions in the oil embargo and financial sectors in order to stop Iran's nuclear development programme," Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said in a statement here after talks in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The P51 group (the US, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany) and Iran Wednesday failed to secure a breakthrough at nuclear talks in Moscow.
Western powers allege that Iran was trying to develop the capacity to build a nuclear bomb but Iran says its nuclear programme was for peaceful energy production only.
Iran is being asked to stop its most sensitive uranium enrichment work, close a deeply buried facility, and ship out its stockpile of 20 per cent enriched material. The world powers stuck to the demands which also includes accepting full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions that require total suspension of enrichment.
The Moscow talks were the third round under the latest diplomatic initiative. The two sides set no date for more political negotiations.
Mofaz, a former defence minister and military chief, said in the statement that in addition to economic steps there was a need "to continue to prepare all other options" a veiled reference to a military strike targeting Iran's nuclear facilities.
Mofaz was quoted as saying in Washington that any military strike "should be the last option".
"I believe that this option should be led by the US and the Western countries," said Mofaz, an influential politician who heads the largest party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-leaning ruling coalition.
On a four-day visit to Washington, Mofaz also sought US help in arranging a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to try to renew peace talks deadlocked since 2010 over Jewish settlement building in occupied territory.
Source: Israel News.net
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