Int'l community must prevent nuclear Iran: Israeli deputy FM

by Deng Yushan, Huang Heng

JERUSALEM, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The international community has to and is able to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, said Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Thursday.

Israel regards the Islamic Republic, whose leaders have repeatedly called for Israel's destruction, as its major security threat, and has joined the United States and some other Western countries in accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a civil program, a charge Iran firmly denies.

The world just cannot afford to have a nuclear Iran, said Ayalon, pointing to Iran's alleged close relations with the Palestinian Hamas movement and the Lebanese Hezbollah group, both of which are blacklisted by Israel and the United States as terrorist organizations.

Should Iran be nuclear, it would become a "regional hegemony" and "more aggressive," bringing more instability to a region that has already been under its shadow, added the senior Israeli diplomat, stressing that Iran has "a delivery system that can cover most of the world, so it is very very dangerous."

"Also, a nuclear Iran will start such an aggressive nuclear arms race in the world, not just here in many countries, but also in Asia and other places. So it's everybody's interest to stop Iran," said Ayalon.

Meanwhile, the international community is able to stop Iran's nuclear process, and this is "the most important thing," he said.

At the current stage, the Islamic republic has run into difficulties both in the political arena and in the economic field, he said, adding that if the international community could take concerted efforts to impose tougher sanctions upon Iran, then the Iranian government would be caught in a real dilemma, and would eventually be forced to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

In a notable contrast with the United States, Israel's most important ally, which spotlights diplomacy over the Iranian nuclear issue, Israel stresses that it will not rule out the possibility to take military actions against Iran's nuclear issues.

Touching upon this difference, Ayalon said he does not think the U.S. government has changed its strategic position that it will not tolerate a nuclear Iran.

"I've heard both U.S. Secretary of State (Hillary) Clinton and President (Barack) Obama saying that no options are ruled out and all the options are on the table. And I think this is the right approach," he said. "In our discussions with European allies and others, we have not heard any call to rule out any option."