Israeli President: world may soon take military action against Iran

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israeli President Shimon Peres said Friday, November 4, that he believes that Israel and the world may soon take military action against Iran.

Despite this, Peres added that a distinction must be made between the public discourse and what happens in practice, Haaretz reported.

In comments to Israel Channel 2, Peres said "Intelligence services of all countries understand that time is running out and they are warning their leaders."

"It would seem that Iran is getting closer to having nuclear weapons," Peres said, adding, "In the time that remains, we must urge the other nations of the world to act, and tell them that it is time to stand behind the promise that was made to us, to fulfill their responsibility, whether that means serious sanctions or whether it means a military operation."

Responding to the recent media uproar over Israeli leaders publicly disagreeing in comments to the press as to the relative wisdom of a military attack on Iran, the president said, "It may well be that comments on the topic serve their own function. We must make a distinction between what is done and what is said. I don’t think any decision has been made, except to hold the world to their duty to respond, and we want to see what they will do."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak also related to the Iranian nuclear threat, saying, "We can't remove any option from the table, but there is no immediate emergency. Our position has not changed and will not change, we believe that Iran must be prevented from achieving nuclear [weapons] capability."