Yisrael Beytenu welcomes Pelosi's position on Iran nuclear program

The Yisrael Beytenu party has welcomed comments made by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi that Iran’s nuclear program is an international problem and not just a concern for the State of Israel. Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman together with his fellow party MKs Eli Avidar and Oded Forer met with Pelosi and a delegation of US congressman on Wednesday morning in Jerusalem to discuss several matters of concern for Israeli regarding antagonistic regional powers. Liberman and his party fellows raised in particular Israel’s ongoing concerns over Iran’s ongoing and accelerating program to enrich uranium, which it is suspected is for the purposes of developing nuclear weapons. They also brought up concerns regarding what they described as Turkey’s destabilizing influence in the Middle East and President Recip Tayip Erdogan’s desire for regional hegemony. According to Avidar, Pelosi said regarding the Iranian issue that she believed that an Iranian nuclear bomb is not just an Israeli problem, but also an international problem and an American problem. “We were happy to hear Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s position that she sees the Iranian nuclear issue as an international problem and not just an Israeli one,” Avidar told The Jerusalem Post. Liberman and the MKs also stated that there was a need for the US to pressure its allies, especially Germany, France and the UK, to impose the stiffest possible sanctions on Iran in order to thwart Iranian efforts to develop a nuclear bomb.The Yisrael Beytenu MK noted that his party had always opposed the Iran nuclear deal worked out between the Obama administration, Iran and five other world powers, because it believed that the deal gave legitimacy to Iran “to continue with destructive policies.”Said Avidar “Our policy today is that Iran should not possess a nuclear bomb and that we should do whatever we can, including military measures, to stop Iran from having a nuclear bomb.”The Yisrael Beytenu politicians also addressed Turkey’s increasingly assertive military positions in the Middle East and its interference in Israeli concerns. “Turkey has become one of the primary agents of instability in the Middle East, with fingers in the Old City of Jerusalem, with fingers in Gaza, with the forces it has sent to Libya, Syria, and its entry into Iraq, and it has to be understood that Turkey is not a stabilizing force in the Middle East but rather a force for unrest with a president whose dream is to restore the Ottoman Empire,” said Avidar. The MK explained that Turkey is supporting NGOs operating in Jerusalem which are working to assert Muslim control of the Temple Mount holy site, and using funds to support radical groups engaging in such activity. “The Turks would like to be seen as the leaders of preserving Muslim control of the Temple Mount,” asserted Avidar.