Jerusalem: Israel has said that international talks with Iran on its atomic build-up have failed, as it demanded a deadline of ‘just a few weeks’ to be given to Tehran to scrap its nuclear weapon projects.
New intelligence shared with Israel by the West reportedly indicated that Iran had moved several steps closer to developing a nuclear warhead that could be fitted on the Shahab-3 missile.
According to sources, the new intelligence reports suggested that Tehran has made significant progress towards assembling a nuclear warhead for a Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of nearly 1,000 miles, putting the whole of Israel within the Islamic republic’s range.
Danny Ayalon, the Israel's deputy foreign minister, called on the Western powers to declare that the negotiations with Iran, conducted by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, had failed, The Telegraph reports.
He called for Iran to be presented with an ultimatum of a ‘few weeks’ to cease its nuclear programme.
According to the paper, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a public warning that Tehran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear bomb.
“Every threat against the home front is dwarfed by one threat. Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
ANI
First Published: Monday, August 13, 2012, 14:53