Meeting Lapid, UK top diplomat vows to work ‘flat out’ to stop Iran getting nukes

Britain will work “flat out” and keep “all options on the table” in order to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, foreign minister Liz Truss vows in a press briefing in London alongside her Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid.

Truss makes the comments shortly after signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at creating stronger collaboration between the two nations on cyber-security, defense and trade.

She says Britain will “work flat out to prevent the Iranian regime from gaining nuclear weapons. We are absolutely determined to prevent Iran from securing a nuclear weapon.”

Iran has said it hopes to reach an agreement with major powers on salvaging its 2015 nuclear deal at talks resuming today in Vienna.

Truss says Britain “wants those talks to work, but if they don’t work, all options are on the table”.

But Lapid accuses Tehran of simply trying to get sanctions lifted.

“They will play for time, earn billions from the removal of sanctions, continue to deceive the world, and covertly advance their nuclear program. This is what they have done in the past and it is what they will do this time as well. The world must prevent this, and it can prevent this,” he says, calling for “tighter sanctions (and) tighter supervision.”

The pair said earlier in a joint article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper they would “work night and day to prevent the Iranian regime from ever becoming a nuclear power.”