Tokyo Warns Israel to Drop War Rhetoric against Iran
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda warned Israel against the ramifications of launching a military strike on Iran over Tehran's nuclear program. - Noda told visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a meeting that an attack on Iran would be ''extremely dangerous'' and would ''escalate'' the situation in the region. Earlier this month, Barak claimed that if the Western sanctions against Iran fail to stop its nuclear program, military action against the country must be placed on its agenda. The US and its close ally Israel have recently intensified their war rhetoric against Iran. The two arch foes of the Islamic Republic accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. Both Washington and Tel Aviv possess advanced weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warheads. Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.