Meridor to discuss sanctions against Iran with IAEA chief

J'lem concerned that reports of Ofer Brothers commercial ties with Iran could undermine Israel’s painstaking efforts to impose sanctions.

By HERB KEINON
Amano 311 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS)
Amano 311 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor will meet with International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano in Vienna on Thursday for a meeting that Meridor’s spokesmen said had nothing to do with the Ofer Brothers Group affair.
This meeting was set up weeks ago, and was not tied to any particular incident or event, the spokesman said. The two last met in August, when Amano made his first visit to Israel as head of the IAEA, succeeding Mohamed ElBaradei.
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There is growing concern in Jerusalem that reports of the Ofer Brothers Group’s commercial ties with Iran could undermine Israel’s painstaking efforts to get sanctions clamped on the Islamic Republic.
According to a statement from Meridor’s office, the minister will talk with Amano about the “urgent” need to tighten the sanctions against Iran, which is continuing to enrich uranium.
During his visit, Meridor is also scheduled to meet with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger.
Meridor’s meeting comes at a time of growing concern in Jerusalem that the developments in the Arab world are diverting the international community’s attention from the situation in Iran.
In his recent visit to Washington, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu highlighted the Iranian issue in a number of meetings, and argued that the sanctions imposed on Iran have not bent the country’s will, and that the regime has not diverted one dollar from its nuclear program as a result of the sanctions.
In a meeting in the capital this week with two visiting US senators, Netanyahu said that a nuclear Iran would “turn the Arab Spring into an Arab Winter” since it would embolden all the Islamic radicals in the region.