By Xinhua,
Jerusalem : The United States and Israel agreed on the need of “tangible action” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, an Israeli government spokesman said on Friday.
“We both see the threat … and we both understand that tangible action is required to prevent the Iranians from moving forward on a nuclear weapon,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev was quoted by local daily Ha’aretz as saying.
Regev made the remarks after a three-day visit by U.S. President George W. Bush on the occasion of the Jewish state’s 60th anniversary.
Regev described recent diplomatic efforts to exert pressure on Iran as “positive,” adding it is clearly insufficient and that additional steps will have to be taken.
Asked about the option of using military force, Regev said “leaders of many countries have talked about many options being on the table and, of course, Israel agrees with that.”
Senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem said Thursday that Israel was fully satisfied with the outcomes of Bush’s visit, including policy on Iran’s nuclear program, according to Ha’aretz.
“In talks with the president of the United States during his visit, it was made clear that Bush’s statements on the subject of Iran’s nuclear program are fully backed in practice,” a senior Israeli official said.
Bush’s attitude on Iran was well known in Israel, and as expected, he used forceful language against Tehran during talks with Israeli officials and in his address to the Israeli Knesset (parliament), not only on the nuclear issue but also on Iran’s role in the region.
Pinpointing Iran, whose senior leaders have repeatedly made threatening remarks against Israel, Bush Thursday told Knesset that his country and Israel have a concerted goal of opposing Tehran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.
“Permitting the world’s leading sponsor of terror to possess the world’s deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations,” he said, adding that “for the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Bush blamed Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran for their stances on Israel, saying the fight against terror is the defining challenge of the time, a great ideological struggle.
This visit of Bush came within four months after his January tour, which was the first of its kind in his seven years’ tenure, to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the wake of a U.S.-host international conference on Middle East peace in Annapolis last November.
Following the Israeli leg, Bush is now in Saudi Arabia and will fly to Egypt during his five-day visit in the region. He is scheduled to meet other Middle East leaders in Egypt, giving a fresh push to the sluggish regional peace process.