Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that Israel was looking to US President Donald Trump to pressure Iran into ending its efforts to gain nuclear weapons, warning that a “military option” may still be required, in an interview with Politico published on Wednesday.
Sa’ar warned that time was running out to prevent Tehran from accessing nuclear weapons, and the Islamic regime had already enriched uranium capable of producing a “couple of bombs.” If efforts to stop the regime do not succeed, it would trigger a “nuclear race in the Middle East with Egypt, Saudis, Turkey,” he described.
Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% of weapons-grade, has jumped since Iran announced a dramatic acceleration in enrichment in December, a quarterly UN nuclear watchdog report showed on Wednesday.
The stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% in the form of uranium hexafluoride grew by 92.5 kg in the past quarter to 274.8 kg, one of two confidential International Atomic Energy Agency reports to member states seen by Reuters said.
That is enough, in principle, if enriched further, for six nuclear bombs, according to an IAEA yardstick.
Stressing the need to halt Tehran, who have issued multiple anti-America statements and threats to Israel, Sa’ar said the regime would destabilize the entire Middle East region.
Iran destabilizing the Middle East
Sa’ar noted that Tehran had already dedicated a number of resources to destabilizing the region, noting Iran had already trafficked weapons and money into the West Bank.
A diplomatic path is still being pursued, he said while emphasizing that he did not believe such efforts would be fruitful.
“I think that in order to stop a nuclear Iranian program before it will be weaponized, a reliable military option should be on the table,” he said.
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