Netanyahu: Nothing could imperil world more than nuke-armed Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday told the UN General Assembly to look at what Iran did so far without nuclear weapons, and to imagine what it can do once it possesses them, announcing that Teheran is very close to do it. Iran, he said, "has completed the first stage (of uranium enrichment,) and is now well into second stage. By next spring, at most by next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium and moved on to final stage. From there only a few weeks till it gets enough enriched uranium for first bomb". "Imagine their long range missiles tipped with nuke warheads. Their terror networks with nuke bombs. Who among you would feel safe in the Middle East, in Europe, in the US, anywhere," he said. "I speak now, because the hour is getting late, very late, because the Iranian nuke calendar doesn't take time out for anyone, anything," he added. He said the sanctions imposed on Iran to stop its nuclear programme did not work. "The only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from getting bombs: that's by placing clear red lines on Iran's nuke weapons program. Red lines don't lead to war, they prevent war". He added that a red line to Saddam Hussein would have stopped him from invading Kuwait in August 1990 and the Gulf wars have been avoided. He spoke very little about the Palestinian issue, telling Palestinians "we won't solve our problems with libelous speeches at the UN. We have to sit, negotiate and reach a mutual compromise where a demilitarized Palestinian State recognizes "the one and only Jewish state," insisting that "we want progress and peace".