BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night indicated that Israel will act if necessary to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons after talks between international powers and Iranian officials came to an abrupt end over the weekend.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Netanyahu said that Iran “openly declares its intention to destroy Israel and does all it can to achieve that goal” and then warned “at no stage will we surrender our fate in the hands of others, even the best of our friends,” in what appeared to be an affirmation that Israel will act if international efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear development fail.

Prospects of finding a diplomatic resolution over Tehran’s nuclear programme appeared bleak after the latest round of talks between the P5+1 powers (United States, UK, China, Russia, France and Germany) and Iran ended without progress over the weekend. The two sides met in Kazakhstan with P5+1 delegates hoping for a substantive Iranian response to a proposal made in February, which would have seen some sanctions relief for Tehran in return for ending development of twenty per cent enriched uranium, considered just a small step from weapons grade material.

However, no such development materialised. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is responsible for P5+1 contact with Iran said, “It became clear that the positions” of the P5+1 forum and Iran “remain far apart.” Foreign Secretary William Hague commented that Iran’s response was “far short” of what was needed to achieve a breakthrough in talks. No date was set for another round of negotiations between the two sides. The next International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran is expected in May and will indicate how quickly Tehran is developing twenty per cent enriched uranium.