Israel, Western Leaders Keep Pressure On Iran
On a high profile visit to the United States, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog called Iran “the greatest challenge Israel and the United States face at this time”.
Referring to the regime’s ongoing development of its nuclear program, he told the joint session of the US Congress: “Let there be no doubt: Iran does not strive to attain nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Iran is building nuclear capabilities that pose a threat to the stability of the Middle East and beyond.”
Meanwhile, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, echoed his sentiments at a fireside chat in Aspen, US, in which he said the UK is committed to working with its allies in the US, Europe and the Middle East “to ensure that we never see a nuclear-armed Iran”.
Both leaders stressed the global threats Iran poses, from its proxies across the Middle East to its foiled attacks in countries including at least 15 in the UK alone, as well as recent plans to attack Jewish and Israeli targets in Greece, Cyprus and Azerbaijan.
“Every country or region controlled or infiltrated by Iran has experienced utter havoc,” Herzog said. “We have seen this in Yemen, in Gaza, in Syria, in Lebanon, and in Iraq. In fact, we have seen this in Iran itself where the regime has lost its people, and is suppressing them brutally.”
The two leaders were speaking as the UK had imposed yet further sanctions on the country, ramping up on several months of penalties for both ongoing nuclear activity and the brutal suppression of protesters since September’s uprising in the wake of the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini.
“We maintain a tough and robust position towards Iran and that will remain our position,” Cleverly said. “If Iran does not like the UK’s response, then Iran needs to change its behavior. Our actions are in response to their behavior.”
Herzog also raised the issue of Iran’s arming Russia in its war in Ukraine, a claim the regime denies but more recently, evidence has shown the cooperation continues, and now it has been revealed that the two nations are building a joint weapons plant.
He said: “Iran has spread hatred, terror, and suffering throughout the Middle East and beyond, adding fuel to the disastrous fire and suffering in Ukraine.”
The Israeli President addressed in candid detail the threat posed to the Middle East’s only democracy. “Iran is the only nation on the planet publicly calling, plotting, and developing means to annihilate another nation, a member of the family of nations, the State of Israel. Israel has no border with Iran. Israel has no resources contested by Iran. Israel has no conflict with the Iranian people. And yet, the Iranian regime – together with its proxies throughout the Middle East – is aiming and working towards destroying the State of Israel, killing the Jews, and challenging the entire free world,” he told Congress.
He said that allowing Iran to become a nuclear threshold state, “whether by omission or by diplomatic commission, is unacceptable”, calling on the world not to remain indifferent to the Iranian regime’s call to wipe Israel off the map.
“Tolerating this call and Iran’s measures to realize it, is an inexcusable moral collapse,” he said, calling on the US to work with the Jewish state to prevent Iran’s fundamental threat to international security.
“I am here to reiterate what every Israeli leader has declared for decades: the State of Israel is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapon capabilities,” he added.
