TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called Tuesday on the United Nations Security Council to take action against Iran over its escalating nuclear program.
Bennett spoke at a conference in Jerusalem, where he suggested that Iran’s conduct is every nation’s problem, and subject to global accountability.
After talks between Tehran and world powers on reviving the nuclear deal stalled earlier this year, Iran has breached limits set by the accord. It has been enriching small amounts of uranium to its closest-ever levels to weapons-grade purity as its stockpile continues to grow.
Bennett said he has made the case to other leaders, including President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that Iran is violating basic international commitments in the shadow of the now-tattered 2015 nuclear deal.
Merkel, who visited Israel on Sunday in her final official visit, said that Germany remains committed to reviving the deal — a step Israel opposes. The Biden administration is also trying to revive the nuclear deal.
Bennett said he expects global powers to “bring (Iran) to the UN Security Council, hold Iran accountable for it.” That, he added, “would be the peaceful route” forward.
Bennett spoke as Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid traveled to Washington, where he was expected to detail Israel’s message on Iran in meetings with Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and congressional leaders in both parties.
Bennett last month met with Biden for the first time as prime minister and president, with Iran topping the agenda. “We’re putting diplomacy first and seeing where that takes us,” Biden said. “If diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options.”
Israel has vowed to act unilaterally against Iran if need be. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.
Earlier this year, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Fox News that Israel was still working on its strike plans against Iran.
And just last month, Israel’s recently-retired navy chief said that the military has stepped up its activities in the Red Sea “exponentially” in the face of growing Iranian threats to Israeli shipping.
Vice Adm. Eli Sharvit stopped short of confirming a series of attacks and mishaps on Iranian ships that have been attributed to Israel. But he described Iranian activities on the high seas as a top Israeli concern and said the navy is able to strike wherever necessary to protect the country’s economic and security interests.
Bennett’s message on Tuesday underscored that he was pushing diplomacy first.
“There are other routes,” he warned, “but that’s the right thing to do. And I’m going to continue pursuing that over the next few weeks and months.”
Israel PM urges UN to hold Iran to account for nuclear moves
https://arab.news/rrnj6
Israel PM urges UN to hold Iran to account for nuclear moves
- Naftali Bennett suggests that Iran’s conduct is every nation’s problem, and subject to global accountability
- Iran has been enriching small amounts of uranium to its closest-ever levels to weapons-grade purity
Saad Hariri pledges to contest May election
- Beirut rally draws large crowds on anniversary of his father’s assassination
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced on Saturday that his movement, which represents the majority of Lebanon’s Sunni community, would take part in upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for May.
The Future Movement had suspended its political activities in 2022.
Hariri was addressing a large gathering of Future Movement supporters as Lebanon marked the 21st anniversary of the assassination of his father and former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, at Martyrs’ Square in front of his tomb.
He said his movement remained committed to the approach of “moderation.”
A minute’s silence was observed by the crowd in Martyrs’ Square at the exact time when, in 2005, a suicide truck carrying about 1,000 kg of explosives detonated along Beirut’s seaside road as Rafik Hariri’s motorcade passed, killing him along with 21 others, including members of his security guards and civilians, and injuring 200 people.
Four members of Hezbollah were accused of carrying out the assassination and were tried in absentia by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The crowd waved Lebanese flags and banners of the Future Movement as they awaited Saad Hariri, who had returned to Beirut from the UAE, where he resides, specifically to commemorate the anniversary, as has been an annual tradition.
Hariri said that “after 21 years, the supporters of Hariri’s approach are still many,” denouncing the “rumors and intimidation” directed at him.
He added: “Moderation is not hesitation … and patience is not weakness. Rafik Hariri’s project is not a dream that will fade. He was the model of a statesman who believed, until martyrdom, that ‘no one is greater than their country.’ The proof is his enduring place in the minds, hearts and consciences of the Lebanese people.”
Hariri said he chose to withdraw from political life after “it became required that we cover up failure and compromise the state, so we said no and chose to step aside — because politics at the expense of the country’s dignity and the project of the state has no meaning.”
He said: “The Lebanese are weary, and after years of wars, divisions, alignments and armed bastions, they deserve a normal country with one constitution, one army, and one legitimate authority over weapons — because Lebanon is one and will remain one. Notions of division have collapsed in the face of reality, history and geography, and the illusions of annexation and hegemony have fallen with those who pursued them, who ultimately fled.”
Hariri said the Future Movement’s project is “One Lebanon, Lebanon first — a Lebanon that will neither slide back into sectarian strife or internal fighting, nor be allowed to do so.”
He added that the Taif Agreement is “the solution and must be implemented in full,” arguing that “political factions have treated it selectively by demanding only what suits them — leaving the agreement unfulfilled and the country’s crises unresolved.”
He said: “When we call for the full implementation of the Taif Agreement, we mean: weapons exclusively in the hands of the state, administrative decentralization, the abolition of political sectarianism, the establishment of a senate and full implementation of the truce agreement. All of this must be implemented — fully and immediately — so we can overcome our chronic problems and crises together.
“Harirism will continue to support any Arab rapprochement, and reject any Arab discord. Those who seek to sow discord between the Gulf and Arab countries will harm only themselves and their reputation.
“We want to maintain the best possible relations with all Arab countries, starting with our closest neighbor, Syria — the new Syria, the free Syria that has rid itself of the criminal and tyrannical regime that devastated it and Lebanon, and spread its poison in the Arab world.”
Hariri said he saluted “the efforts of unification, stabilization and reconstruction led by Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa.”
When asked about the Future Movement’s participation in parliamentary elections following his withdrawal from politics, he said: “Tell me when parliamentary elections will be held, and I will tell you what the Future Movement will do. I promise you that, when the elections take place, they will hear our voices, and they will count our votes.”
The US Embassy in Lebanon shared a post announcing that Ambassador Michel Issa laid a wreath at the grave of Rafik Hariri.
Hariri’s legacy “to forge peace and prosperity continues to resonate years later with renewed significance,” the embassy said.
