Ya’alon: Force Iran to pick survival or the bomb

Leveling the latest veiled threat in the war of words between Israel and Iran, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Wednesday that the international community needs to up sanctions to force Tehran to choose between “survival or the bomb.”

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for IDF officer cadets, Ya’alon reiterated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement a day before that despite Iran’s election of a new president, its nuclear policy is unchanged.

He added that until the world demonstrates it is determined to stop Iran from getting the bomb at any cost, Tehran will continue on its present course. Ya’alon said the circumstances “demand a significant intensification of pressure by Western states in order to bring it to the dilemma of the bomb or survival.”

Relative moderate candidate Hasan Rowhani won Iran’s presidential election last week and is set to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in August.

Netanyahu indicated Tuesday that Rowhani has been very clear about Iran’s unchanged nuclear policy, and that neither Israel nor the world should delude themselves into thinking that policy will change under his tenure.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) called on the Obama administration to increase sanctions pressure on Iran until it ceases all uranium enrichment.

“The international community should provide sanctions relief only after Tehran takes concrete positive steps to halt its nuclear activities,” AIPAC said in a statement Tuesday, a day after final election results confirmed Rowhani’s victory.

“Until that time, the United States should maintain a steady policy that couples a genuine willingness to negotiate with increased sanctions pressure,” the pro-Israel lobby said in a clear signal that it would not roll back its intensive Capitol Hill lobbying being for intensified sanctions on Iran.

Rowhani has signaled his readiness to reverse the confrontational approach adopted by his predecessor, Ahmadinejad, and has said he is ready to reach out to the West and the United States. However, he has insisted that enrichment will not stop and has instead offered greater transparency to show that Iran’s nuclear program is not weaponized.

It’s not clear yet how the Obama administration would respond to such a posture, but Western negotiators reportedly are ready to settle for 5 percent enrichment and perhaps as much as 20 percent enrichment.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Iran was willing to halt its 20-percent enrichment of uranium, which has been a key concession sought in international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Neither figure is the 90-plus enrichment needed for weapons grade uranium, but Israel has rejected any enrichment, saying it builds the capacity to achieve a weapons program.