Israel is concerned that Iran will use the current climate of international goodwill as a cover to pursue its goal of becoming a nuclear power, Vice Premier Silvan Shalom said on Friday, after discussing Iran’s nuclear ambitions with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Jerusalem Post
Shalom: Iran may use deal to build bomb
Israel is concerned that Iran will use the current climate of international goodwill as a cover to pursue its goal of becoming a nuclear power, Vice Premier Silvan Shalom said on Friday, after discussing Iran’s nuclear ambitions with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Shalom made the comment on the day that Iran announced it was still studying a UN-drafted plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia and France for further enrichment, a move seen as a way to delay the country’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. Iran’s envoy to the UN nuclear agency said the government will respond to the offer next week.
“I told the secretary-general that we were very concerned that Iran will use the goodwill of the international community to continue to develop their real intentions – and it is toward nuclear power on the one end but on the other end to try to change the types of the regimes within the Middle East,” he said.
“We believe that Iran will never abandon their dream to become a nuclear power,” Shalom said. “They hide their real intentions in the past, and they will do it in the future.”
He singled out the recent disclosure about the nuclear facility at Qom.
“We know about many other things that they are trying to do,” he said. “They are trying to buy all the items that are needed in order to develop nuclear power. They are doing it while they are always lying about … their real intentions.”
Shalom expressed concern about what Iran would do before the date the uranium would be sent to Russia, which he said was January 15.
“We are very concerned from the possibility that Iran will try once again to develop its nuclear power while there is no inspection, or inspectors, or supervision of the international community,” he said.
“We are in a situation where we have to protect ourself from those who are trying to kill us,” he replied.
“If Iran will abandon its dream to have … nuclear power, it will bring more stability to the region because first and foremost those who are very, very concerned are Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” he added.
Shalom accused the Iranians of “trying to undermine the regimes of the moderate Arab countries,” citing the discovery of “a terrorist cell” of Hizbullah operatives, backed by Iran, in Egypt a few months ago.
On Thursday night, Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed Israel’s dissatisfaction with the deal even before Iran failed to respond to it, saying there was a need to halt all uranium enrichment on Iranian soil.
“This agreement, if it is signed, will set Iran’s accumulation of enriched material back by about a year,” Barak said during a speech at President Shimon Peres’s Israeli Presidential Conference at the Jerusalem International Convention Center.
“However, if they don’t stop enrichment, then the only result will be that Iran has gained the legitimacy to enrich uranium on its soil for civilian purposes, in clear opposition to the interlocutors’ and our understanding that their true plan is to attain [military] nuclear capability,” he said.
“So, I repeat, what is required is a halt to enrichment in Iran, not just an export of the enriched material to build fuel rods,” the defense minister said.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni echoed Barak, saying that Israel was troubled by the recent Iranian nuclear agreement.
She noted that “the world understands that we cannot permit a nuclear Iran, however to my regret, there is a gap between the understanding of the threat and action on the ground.
“Israel needs to be worried by what we are witnessing today and the reports of the agreement. We suspect that this is another attempt by Iran to buy time. Israel must rally the world as this is not solely Israel’s problem.”
Livni made the comments Friday when speaking at the annual meeting of the farmers’ union.
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