Olmert: Get tough with Iran now

An international front has formed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons or the means to produce them, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told an important Israeli strategic conference. Addressing the annual Herzliya Conference on Wednesday, Olmert praised a recent U.N. Security Council resolution imposing light sanctions on Iran. He said those who hope to convince the Islamic republic to give up its nuclear program through diplomacy “must now muster their strength to exert pressure on Iran and thus stay the course until change is achieved.” Otherwise, Olmert warned, “those of us who wish to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power will, down the road, not be left with any choice but to take much more severe steps in the future.”