Peres: Nuclear Iran to lead to arms race

Former Israeli diplomats plan to sue Ahmadinejad for conspiring genocide.

By AP, JPOST STAFF
ahmadinejad badass 298.8 (photo credit: Associated Press)
ahmadinejad badass 298.8
(photo credit: Associated Press)
If Iran succeeds in obtaining nuclear weapons, a long list of countries in the Middle East and outside would quickly follow, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Monday. Peres called for a world coalition of powers to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Israel is convinced that the Iranian nuclear development program is aimed at building a bomb, though Iran insists its goal is peaceful.
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"If Iran acquires nuclear weapons, there are five or six candidates for achieving nuclear capability," Peres told Channel 10. "In the Middle East, they would be Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In the Far East, Japan and North Korea." Peres asked, "Who would supervise a world filled with nuclear weapons? It can't be done." He said the solution is a coalition of the United States, Europe, China, India, Japan, Russia and Pakistan to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Earlier Monday, a group of Israeli lawmakers and former diplomats plan to sue Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, accusing him of conspiring to commit genocide, one of those involved said Monday. Ahmadinejad recently said Israel should be wiped off the map and dismissed the Nazi Holocaust as a "myth." Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said Ahmadinejad's comments violate the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, to which Iran is a signatory. The Foreign Ministry on Monday refused to comment on the lawsuit, calling it a "private initiative." "From our preliminary assessment, there's no question that Ahmadinejad violated the genocide convention, which specifically addresses the issue of incitement to genocide," Gold said. Gold said the legal team was still looking for the best venue, and that the suit would only be filed in a few more months. Palestinians have past-filed lawsuits against Israeli leaders and generals, including former prime minister Ariel Sharon, accusing them of committing war crimes. None of the lawsuits have ended in conviction, and the one against Sharon, filed in a Belgian court, was eventually thrown out.