President Shimon Peres on Tuesday said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must face "total" international isolation, adding that his anti-Israel rhetoric was only a cover for his ambitions for Iranian hegemony in the Middle East.
"A person like Ahmadinejad, who calls openly to destroy the state of Israel, cannot be a full member of the United Nations," Peres said, as he met visiting U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden in Jerusalem.
"A man who calls for acts of terror, and who hangs people in the street ... he should be placed in his proper definition. He cannot go around almost like a cultural hero," Peres said.
"Ahmadinejad has to be isolated and not be welcomed in the capitals of the world," Peres said.
Peres urged Washington to "surround Iran with an envelope" to protect Israel against Tehran's "missiles and nuclear threat".
"We have trust in President [Barack] Obama," Peres told visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. But when it comes to Iran's contentious nuclear program, said Peres, "Nobody knows exactly what they are doing."
Later Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that one of Israel's top security priorities was ensuring Iran did not build nuclear weapons, telling visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that he appreciated the Obama administration's efforts to that effect.
"I very much appreciate the efforts of President Obama and the American government to lead the international community to place tough sanctions on Iran," he said during a press conference following his meeting with Biden.
"The stronger those sanctions are, the more likely it will be that the Iranian regime will have to chose between advancing its nuclear program and advancing the future of its own permanence," he added.
Israeli political sources expect Biden to make clear during his visit, as other U.S. officials have done, that Obama wants no strike on Iran - notably by Israel - while Washington seeks to curb Tehran's nuclear program by means of sanctions.
"Since our administration came to power, I would point out that Iran is more isolated - internally, externally - has fewer friends in the world," Biden said.
Biden's main task during his visit is to assuage the Israeli leadership and ensure that it is not planning any preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear sites which would disrupt the Obama administration's efforts to form a broad international front that would impose tough sanctions on Tehran.
Senior defense sources told Haaretz this week that American concerns about an Israeli strike, along with the obvious coolness in relations between U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have resulted in the substantial tightening of relations between the two countries' defense establishments.
The same sources said the Americans are trying to convince the Israeli defense leadership that the administration is committed to the efforts to bring about sanctionsagainst Iran. Consequently, coordination between the two sides is deepening.
Source: Haaretz.com
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