En route to General Assembly, president tells 'Post' he'll seek harsher targeting of Teheran economy.
By GREER FAY CASHMANPeres speaks 224.88(photo credit: AP)
The world should hit Iran where it hurts - in its economy - much harder than it does now, and Israel will push the United Nations to that effect when the General Assembly convenes next week, President Shimon Peres told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Peres, who will represent Israel at the General Assembly session, said he would not advocate a diplomatic initiative to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program, because that wouldn't work, but he would not support military action either.
"War should never be an option, or even the first option. We must first try every other option," he told the Post.
Rather, he said, "We have to go to the most sensitive area," which was Teheran's economy.
Peres said that when he addressed the General Assembly, he would say that Iran's nuclear program presented a threat not only to Israel and the region but to the world at large. To combat it, he said, the nations of the world must not only target the Iranian economy, but also encourage the development of alternative sources of energy.
"This will weaken oil-rich countries like Iran," he said.
During his stay in New York, Peres will meet with world leaders, and with major figures in the American Jewish community, to update them on the peace process and Israel's position on global issues.
Peres leaves for the US on Monday night, and will address world leaders on Wednesday, a day after they are scheduled to hear a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Speaking to reporters in Iran on Thursday, Ahmadinejad denied that his country was trying to make nuclear arms, but insisted that it would not stop uranium enrichment.
"Let them put sanctions on us," Ahmadinejad said. "We are a very strong nation."
He said the Jewish state would not survive in any shape or form, and smirked at the Israeli Right's mantra of a Greater Israel that would include the West Bank.
"I have heard some say the idea of Greater Israel has expired," he said, echoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement from Sunday. "I say that the idea of lesser Israel has expired, too."
The Iranian president repeated his previous anti-Israel comments, calling the Holocaust a "fake" and saying Israel was perpetrating a holocaust on the Palestinian people.
He said that many around the world would come to Iran's defense in case of a US strike.
"From Japan and Southern America, to inside the United States, there are many volunteers that are ready to defend [Iran] if the US wants to offend the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said.
The remarks appeared to be part of Ahmadinejad's effort to deflect growing criticism at home over his failed economic policies.
Peres told the Post that many oil-producing countries not only polluted the environment, but also financed terrorism.
The use of solar, wind and sea energy, he said, would not only help the environment, but would reduce violence, "and that should be our first priority - not only ours, but the whole world's," he said.
Quoting former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger on the oil situation, Peres said: "The sellers are united and determine the price. The buyers are disunited and pay the cost."
Organizing buyers can and should be done, said Peres.
"The strength of Iran is in the disagreement of responsible countries," he declared, adding, "Reducing the danger of Iran must be a first priority."
People were sick and tired of paying for the craziness and ambition of countries that possessed oil, said Peres, adding that Africa as a continent was starving while Iran was spending money on uranium enrichment, terrorism, missiles and violence.
Ahmadinejad also took issue with a report issued earlier his week by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency that said Iran had blocked a UN investigation into allegations it tried to make nuclear arms and that the inquiry was deadlocked.
The Iranian president claimed the UN nuclear watchdog agency had "no right" to consider US-provided documents that alleged Teheran sought to make an atomic bomb.
The report "verified the peaceful nature" of Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said, as he urged the West to end its hostile policy toward the Islamic Republic.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Thursday he believed that even Russia and China were "quite worried" about the new IAEA report.
Solana said the report presented Monday by the UN nuclear watchdog "isn't good for Iran."
But he stopped short of saying there was support for France's push for more UN Security Council sanctions against Teheran.
Iran is already under three sets of sanctions by the UN Security Council over its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Paris meeting of EU foreign ministers with their counterparts from five central Asian nations, Solana said the General Assembly would "analyze" the situation next week.
Tovah Lazaroff and AP contributed to this report.
The full interview with President Peres will be published in the Rosh Hashana edition of The Jerusalem Post.
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