Ya'alon agrees that a political solution to the Iranian nuclear issue is possible

Israeli defence minister, Moshe Ya’alon, said that he does not oppose a political settlement with Iran over its nuclear program as long as it ensures that Iran does not possess nuclear capabilities.

Israeli Maariv newspaper quoted Ya’alon on Tuesday, during his meeting with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon in New York. During the meeting Ya’alon asked that the economic sanctions imposed on Iran not be eased. He thanked the UN Secretary General for his efforts in the region, particularly his role in dismantling the Syrian chemical arsenal.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with the Czech Republic President, Miloš Zeman. Netanyahu compared Israel to the Czech Republic and said that the Republic was “a democratic state that has been threatened and asked to make concessions that jeopardised not only its security and sovereignty, but the security of Europe as a whole”. Netanyahu said that Israel would not repeat the Czech Republic’s mistakes.

Netanyahu noted that the Czech Republic is one of 17 countries which produces peaceful nuclear energy, without enriching uranium and without heavy water reactors, concluding that Iran’s insistence on enriching uranium and plutonium was in order to produce a nuclear bomb.