JERUSALEM (JTA) — The United States and Israel are completely coordinated on the issue of Iran, the U.S. envoy to Israel, Dan Shapiro, told Jewish leaders.
"I cannot think of any issue on which we are better coordinated than on the issue of Iran," Shapiro told the annual meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Thursday in Jerusalem.
Shapiro said that media reports about division between Israel and the U.S. over Iran is "pure speculation and much of it is wrong." He also said that while he believes sanctions on Iran are working, "all options are open" when it comes to the Islamic Republic.
Also addressing the conference, Israeli President Shimon Peres said that Israel as a sovereign state has the right and capacity to defend itself against any threat.
"When we say that all options are on the table, we really mean it," he said. "A nuclear Iran is a strategic threat, not only to Israel but to the world at large."
Peres added that he has spoken with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany, and noted that he understood from them that they are well aware of the great danger posed by the combination of the leadership of the ayatollahs with a nuclear bomb.
