Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on official visit to Moscow. This is his fifth visit to Russia since March 2009 when he was took the premiership of the country for the second time.
The main intent behind the visit is to convince Moscow to take tougher stance on the nuclear accord with Iran. Netanyahu failed to get the United States to be as tough. He had stated earlier that the world powers were pursuing “a bad deal”. The world powers, including the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany and China started the third round of talks with Iran in Geneva which is set to relax economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for Iran curbing of its nuclear program.
Israel is considered the only nuclear power in the region and sees Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat to its security and stability in the region. If Tehran does become a nuclear power, it would be able to change the balance of power in the Middle East and greater region, possibly changing entire dynamics of international relations. Israel demands that Iran dismantles its uranium enrichment facilities and the uranium enriched by now is removed. Tehran, in turn, claims the uranium enrichment is for peaceful purposes only.
Israeli Prime Minister already warned the world powers that the deal, currently negotiated with Iran allows the Iranians to keep the program running and would enable them to build a nuclear bomb quickly, should they wish to do so. Netanyahu has made statements about Israel’s military strikes if its concerns are not fully addressed and negotiators sign the “bad deal” in Geneva.
Russians have helped Iran build its first nuclear power plant and have better relations with Tehran than the Western powers. Israel will try to convince Russia of Iran’s bad faith and the risks the nuclear program can cause even if it is realized in limited terms.
