BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday after returning from talks in Washington that Israel would give sanctions on Iran a chance to work and would not attack its nuclear installations in the coming days or weeks. “I am not standing with a stopwatch in hand. It is not a matter of days or weeks, but also not a matter of years. Everybody understands this,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel Channel 2 news.

“I hope there won’t be a war at all, and that the pressure on Iran will succeed,” the prime minister stressed, noting that his preferred choice would be for Iran to halt its nuclear program and dismantle the uranium enrichment facility located in an underground site near Qom. “That would make me happiest,” he said. “I think every citizen of Israel would be happy.”

Meanwhile, Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan reiterated his objection to launching a pre-emptive strike on Iran in the near future, saying “an attack on Iran before you explore all of other approaches is not the right way how to do it.”

In an interview with CBS News, which will be aired in its entirety on Sunday, Dagan said that instead of military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the international community should focus on fomenting regime change in Tehran. “It’s our duty to help anyone who likes to present an open opposition against their regime in Iran,” the former head of Israel’s intelligence service stated.

Dagan also said he believes the US will intervene if necessary. “(President Barack Obama) said openly that the military option is on the table and he is not going to let Iran become a nuclear state and from my experience, I usually trust the president of the US. The issue of Iran armed with a nuclear capability is not an Israeli problem; it’s an international problem,” he declared.

Dagan sparked controversy last year when he stated that an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear reactors would be “a bad idea that would not grant any advantage,” adding that there is still time before such drastic actions needed to be taken.