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Minister for Strategic Affairs : Israel can face Iran threat alone
ISRAEL would be able to face any Iranian nuclear threat alone if international sanctions failed to yield results, Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman said overnight. "Israel is capable of dealing alone with the Iranian threat even if sanctions don't work," the ultra-nationalist minister said in an interview with Channel 2 television. "Israel is prepared to face the Iranian issue even if it remains alone," said Mr Lieberman. Mr Lieberman however endorsed international economic sanctions, saying they can be very effective. "Unlike North Korea, Iran has a financial community which counts some 50 or 60 families on which the sanctions must be focused," he said. Mr Lieberman was last year assigned by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with the new portfolio which focuses mainly with the Jewish state's efforts to counter Iran's nuclear programme. Believed to be the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel has accused Iran of trying to make an atomic bomb under the guise of its nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes. Israel considers Iran's nuclear programme to be an "existential threat" after its hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly called for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map. Posted by: Jailing Thrish7400 2007-03-11 |
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