Herzog said Israel needed its allies to firmly oppose Iran’s nuclear ambitions, as the P5+1 group of world powers prepare to restart negotiations in Vienna next week aimed at reviving the multilateral nuclear accord they signed in 2015. The P5+1 comprises China, Russia, France, the US and the UK plus Germany.
“We are looking forward for our allies in the P5+1 to be as tough as possible because we do not believe that they [the Islamic Republic] are operating in a bona fide manner, and only if all options are on the table may things move in the right direction,” Herzog said.
Johnson warned that “the world doesn’t have much time” on Iran, echoing concerns by leaders in Israel and the West over Tehran’s rapidly mounting uranium stockpile amid moribund nuclear negotiations.
Israel is opposed to the US returning to the tattered nuclear accord, but has also sought to press for more safeguards and curbs on Iranian actions should an agreement take shape.
Herzog earlier discussed Iran with a group of 100 British lawmakers on Monday. He urged the group to make sure their government remains tough ahead of the upcoming Iran negotiations.
Herzog also thanked Johnson for the UK’s decision to proscribe the entire Hamas organization as a terror group.
“This is a very important message to terror organizations and global radicals trying to undermine the situation in the Middle East,” Herzog said.
The British prime minister said his government’s recent listing of the entire Hamas organization as a terror group had been the right move and condemned a Hamas terror attack in Jerusalem on Sunday that killed an Israeli man on his way to work.
“I think it is the right decision. It was a difficult and controversial decision but I think the right thing, and by the way a decision that I think was almost immediately vindicated by the appalling incident that we saw in Israel. Terrible,” Johnson said.
Last week, London announced that it was designating the entirety of Hamas as a terror organization and outlawing support for the group. Herzog thanked the British lawmakers on Monday for the decision. READ MORE
