Israeli President Shimon Peres says he’s still hopeful the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program can be resolved peacefully through sanctions, but warns the world — not just Israel — must be ready to respond if they fail.
“Rightly, the United States would like to try to achieve it without using firearms, without war,” Peres said in an interview Tuesday with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren.
“If it will work it will be the best thing. If not, there is no other way but to stop it by other means,” he added, noting that it’s hard to say how long Israel and its allies will wait before taking military action.
“I’m not sure that we know exactly what is taking place in Iran,” Peres said. “We have general impressions. But they have a culture, they have business, and they have to make a living. They have to educate children. And there is no doubt that the sanctions . . . an impact. How long can they take it? I don’t know how to judge.”
Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was twice elected Israel’s prime minister before his election as president in 2007, said Iran should be judged “by the size of danger that it creates” for the world through its sponsorship of terrorism and it efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
“She is not endangering just Israel; she is endangering the rest of the world,” Peres said, describing Iran as the only country on earth “that wants to dominate the Middle East” and spend “a lot of money on missiles that can reach every place on earth.”
“They are the center [of terrorism],” added Peres. “They kill people, hang people, and finance terror [in] other places.”
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