JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel is not planning to bomb Iran, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters during a visit to Russia.
"This is not an Israeli problem," Lieberman said Wednesday following meetings in Moscow. "But the world should understand that Iran’s entrance into the nuclear club would prompt a whole arms race, a crazy race of unconventional weaponry across the Mideast that is a threat to the entire world order, a challenge to the whole international community. So we do not want a global problem to be solved with our hands."
Statements from the Netanyahu government have intimated that if diplomatic talks with Iran fail, Israel might be forced to attack its nuclear sites.
Lieberman met Tuesday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The leaders discussed the general situation in the Middle East and the relations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
They also discussed Israeli-Russian relations, and agreed to continue promoting economic ties between the two states and cooperation in the realms of space technology and high-tech, culture and the international law for the protection of investments.
During the meetings, the Russian leaders pledged to ask Iran to use its nuclear program only for civilian purposes.
