(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)Adopted unanimously
has been working for over 20 years to obtain nuclear weapons
capabilities despite its declared commitment to pursue only civilian
During this time, Iran has repeatedly deceived
the international community about its nuclear program, including its
efforts to conceal enrichment facilities at Natanz and Qom. Iran has
also systematically defied United Nations Security Council resolutions
which call upon it to end its enrichment.
these resolutions, Iran has increased the number of centrifuges from 164
in 2006 to over 18,000 today, and it has amassed during negotiations
with the international community several tons of enriched uranium.
Iran with military nuclear capabilities would threaten world peace and
stability as well as the security of countries across the Middle East,
including Israel, which it threatens to annihilate.
continues to develop missiles of various ranges, including
intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.
These missiles pose a threat to the Middle East, Europe, the United
States and other countries.
As a result of Iran’s actions, the UN
Security Council has adopted a series of resolutions. The most recent
one, UNSC Resolution 1929 from June 2010, determined that Iran must:
1. Fully and sustainably suspend all enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water-related activity.
2. Refrain from any activity related to developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
In the resolution, the Security Council determined that Iran had breached previous UNSC resolutions.
the years, the international community has imposed on Iran sanctions to
compel it to end its military nuclear program. However, Iran continues
to blatantly violate Security Council resolutions and to advance its
military nuclear program, even as it negotiates with the P5+1.
another round of negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran will begin in
Geneva. These negotiations begin at a time when the Iranian regime is
under great pressure because of the sanctions and is desperately trying
to have them removed. Sanctions must not be eased when they are so close
to achieving their intended purpose.
Now is an opportune moment
to reach a genuine diplomatic solution that peacefully ends Iran's
nuclear weapons program. However, this opportunity can be realized only
if the international community continues to put pressure on Iran and
does not ease the sanctions prematurely. It would be an historic mistake
not to take full advantage of the sanctions, by making concessions
before ensuring the dismantling of Iran's nuclear weapons program.
will embrace a genuine diplomatic solution which would bring about the
dismantling of Iran's nuclear weapons program. Such a solution would
require Iran to comply with Security Council resolutions and other steps
which call upon it to:
- Cease all nuclear enrichment.
- Remove from its territory all the stockpiles of enriched uranium.
- Dismantle the underground facilities near Qom and Natanz, including the centrifuges inside them.
- Stop all work on the plutonium-producing heavy water reactor in Arak.
Unfortunately, we have seen no evidence that Iran is willing to
accept such a solution. On the contrary, Iran continues to enrich
uranium without letting up. It insists that it has the "right to
enrich." But as President Rouhani revealed in his 2011 book:
country that can enrich uranium to about 3.5% will also have the
capability to enrich to 90%... Having fuel cycle capability virtually
means that a country that possesses this capability is able to produce
claims that it supposedly has the "right to enrich." But a country that
regularly deceives the international community, that violates UN
Security Council resolutions, that participates in the slaughter of
civilians in Syria and that promotes terror worldwide, has no such
Israel does not oppose Iran having a peaceful nuclear
energy program. But as has been demonstrated in many countries, from
Canada to Indonesia, peaceful programs do not require uranium enrichment
or plutonium production. Iran's nuclear weapons program does.
calls upon the international community not to reach a partial agreement
that would fail to bring about the full dismantling of the Iranian
military nuclear program, and at the same time, could lead to the
collapse of the sanctions regime.
Iran believes it can get by
with cosmetic concessions that would not significantly impede its path
to developing nuclear weapons, concessions that could be reversed in
weeks. In exchange, Iran demands an easing of the sanctions, which have
taken years to put in place.
The international community must
reject Iran’s attempts to reach a deal that leaves it with the
capability to develop nuclear weapons and must insist upon a genuine and