Biden told not to change Iran policy

Biden told not to change Iran policy
Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:22:37 GMT

SOURCE: Press TV

Israel has warned Senator Joe Biden (R) against altering Bush policies on Iran And The Israeli administration says the Obama-Biden government should not rule out striking Iran’s nuclear installations.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has warned the US vice president-elect against changing the Bush White House policies toward Iran.

“It is of the utmost importance that we keep up our coordination against the Iranian threat because time is not on the side of the moderates,” the ministry quoted Livni as saying in a telephone conversation with Senator Joe Biden on Monday.

Her remarks come amid speculation that president-elect Barack Obama would engage Iran in direct negotiations over the country’s nuclear program.

Tel Aviv, the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, has long alleged that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, while arguing that the use of military force is a legitimate option in halting the Iranian program.

“We don’t rule out any option. We recommend others don’t rule out any option either,” said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday.

Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), denies the Israeli claim, insisting that its enrichment program is solely directed at the civilian applications of the technology.
Earlier on Thursday, Livni had said that dialogue with Tehran would be ‘interpreted as weakness’ for the Obama-Biden administration, urging the continuation of the Bush carrot-and-stick approach toward Iran.

By expressing its strong opposition to potential Tehran-Washington reconciliation efforts, Tel Aviv signaled its first dissonance with an Obama administration.

Senator Obama, in his first post-election press conference on Friday, said ‘Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon’ was unacceptable, calling for international efforts to mount pressure on the country.

The UN nuclear watchdog, which has extensively monitored Iran’s nuclear activities since 2003, concedes that it is not in a position to fully clarify the nature of the Iranian nuclear program.

The agency, however, announced in its latest Iran report that its inspectors have not found any ‘components of a nuclear weapon’ or ‘related nuclear physics studies’ in the country.

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