By DPA,
Jerusalem : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Iran Monday that his government was ready to take the lead in pressing for firmer sanctions to prevent it from realising its nuclear programme.
In an address to Israel’s parliament, he also strongly criticised Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his comments on Israel.
“We stand ready to lead in taking firmer sanctions and ask the whole international community to join us,” Brown said at the Knesset in Jerusalem.
“Iran has a clear choice to make: suspend its nuclear weapons programme and accept our offer of negotiations, or face growing isolation and the collective response, not just of one nation, but of all nations round the world.”
Britain, Brown said, was a “true friend” of Israel believed its people had the right “to live freely and to live in security”.
“It is totally abhorrent for the president of Iran to call for Israel to be wiped from the map of the world,” he added.