NETANYAHU RELUCTANT ABOUT IRAN NEGOTIATIONS

Tel Aviv, 12 Dhulhijja 1434/17 October 2013 (MINA) – The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran desperately struggled to for the removal of sanctions imposed by international community over its controversial nuclear program.

Asked about the negotiations between five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany (P5+1) and Iran under EU’s auspices, Netanyahu said that it would be a historical mistake to lift the sanctions at a time Iran was under high pressure due to long-imposed embargo.

“It would be a historic mistake to ease the pressure on Iran a moment before the sanctions achieve their objective,” Netanyahu said as Anadolu Agency reported monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

“Particularly at this moment we must not give up on them, we must keep up the pressure,” he said in a press conference after a meeting with Malta’s prime minister.

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Netanyahu also claimed that Iran would only stop its nuclear program should the international community continued pressurizing.

Iran resumed negotiations with P5+1 in Geneva on Tuesday, the first-ever round of talks since Hassan Rouhani became the country’s president in August.

Financial sanctions and oil embargoes were imposed on Iran since December 2011 by the United States and the European Union.

On the 68th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli delegation to walk out boycotting the speech of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Issuing a written statement, Israeli Prime Ministry announced that PM Netanyahu instructed the Israeli delegation to the UN to “act as they did last year and not be present during Iranian President’s remarks.”

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“Despite the spin being given to the new Iranian President’s statements, the regime’s policies have not changed at all. Just last week, Rouhani, as Ahmadinejad before him, refused to recognize the Holocaust as a historical fact,” said Netanyahu.

“When Iranian leaders stop denying the Holocaust of the Jewish people, and stop calling for the destruction of Israel and recognize its right to exist, then the Israeli delegation will listen to speeches at the General Assembly,” Netanyahu added.

Hassan Rouhani is the 7th and current President of Iran and also a Muslim cleric. In speech, Rouhani has offered to find a “framework” to manage differences with the US.

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Iran poses “absolutely no threat to the world,” Rouhani said at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday hours after the US President, Barack Obama, also expressed an interest in diplomacy to resolve a dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Rouhani said he “listened carefully” to a speech earlier in the day by the US president. He said he was hopeful that the two sides could pursue diplomacy, but only if the US government speaks with “a consistent voice”.(T/P03/P04)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)