Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Peres says Israel won't hit Iran's nuclear sites

Thursday 16 April 2009 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

President Shimon Peres rejected speculation Israel might attack Iran to stop it making nuclear weapons and said US-led diplomacy was the solution.

The US favours negotiation to curb Iran's uranium enrichment, a process that can produce bombs, but such overtures have drawn scepticism in Israel, which sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a mortal threat. Iran denies having hostile designs.

The advent of Israel's right-wing Netanyahu government has redoubled international concern that Israel could go it alone with preventive strikes against Iran's nuclear sites, even at the cost of falling foul of the Obama administration.

But Mr Peres's office said he had told the visiting US envoy George Mitchell: "All the talk about a possible attack by Israel on Iran is not true. The solution in Iran is not military." Mr Peres lacks executive powers but is privy to policy-making. A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in