Israeli PM welcomes fresh EU sanctions against Iran

AFP JERUSALEM ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday praised the European Union for the latest round of sanctions imposed on Iran, but reserved judgment on whether or not they would halt its nuclear drive.

“I would like to commend the European Union on the harsh sanctions it adopted yesterday (Monday) against the greatest threat to peace in our time,” he told EU diplomats in Jerusalem, in remarks communicated by his office.

“These are serious sanctions against Iran,” he said.

“When the centrifuges stop spinning and the Iranian nuclear programme is halted, we shall know that they have achieved their aim,” he added.

“I believe that all those who seek to ensure world peace and security share this aim, not only in the Middle East but throughout the world. These are momentous issues and momentous times,” Netanyahu said.

Israel and much of the West believe that Iran is using its nuclear programme to develop an atomic weapons capability.

Iran denies this, and says its activities are purely peaceful.

And Israel, the Middle East’s sole — if undeclared — nuclear power, has refused to rule out a military strike to prevent that from happening. Netanyahu also congratulated the EU on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Would that we could replicate in the M-E what was achieved in Europe,” he said.

“That is, decades of stability and peace and tranquillity.” Israel and the Europeans do not always see eye to eye.

Brussels is vocally opposed to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and regularly condemns such activity.

Last month, a planned meeting between Netanyahu and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly failed to take place because of scheduling conflicts.

Meanwhile, Iran on Tuesday denounced the new EU sanctions as “inhuman,” vowing they will not force any retreat on the country’s suspect nuclear programme. The remarks by Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast amplify Iran’s insistence that it can ride out Western economic pressures aimed at reining in Tehran’s uranium enrichment.

The West and its allies fear the process could lead to nuclear weapons development, a charge Iran denies, saying its nuclear ambitions are only for peaceful purposes.

The 27-nation on bloc Monday banned imports of Iranian natural gas and imposed other restrictions on trade and financial dealings.

Previous Western sanctions have targeted Iran’s critical oil exports and access to international banking networks.

Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday the new EU measures will not force Iran to back down from enriching uranium to make nuclear fuel. He called the sanctions “illegal, unwise and inhuman.

They cannot force the Iranian nation to surrender and withdraw,” said Mehmanparast.

“This sort of acts will encourage the Iranian nation to continue on its way, strongly.” He said the nuclear issue is merely a pretext since the West had imposed various sanctions for decades on Iran.

“It is pretty clear that Iran’s persistence on its independence is the main problem” for the West, he said.

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