MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2021) Israel considers Iran's nuclear aspirations a threat of regional scale and is poised to protect its citizens, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told Sputnik.
"The destabilizing force within Syria is Iran, and Israel cannot tolerate, not in the long term and not in the short term, Iranian presence and the way Iran is exporting terror into the region... We are going to do something about it, we are not going to sit on our hands, waiting for Iranian-guided terror to hit our citizens," Lapid said.
Lapid refused to specify whether the Israeli comprehensive strategy against Iran included diplomatic means, sanctions or possible military action, but said that a "credible threat" should be shown to Iran, as the country is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons and poses an "existential threat" to Israel.
Since April, the joint commission of the international nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action� (JCPOA) has held sessions in Vienna in a bid to revive the accord, shattered after the US withdrawal in 2018. Israel opposed the negotiations, saying that Iran was just playing for time while developing its nuclear program. US-Israel relations have deteriorated amid differences on the JCPOA.
