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No decision made on Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuke facilities, says FM

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denies reports Israel has decided carry out strike on Iranian nuclear program next month, says Jerusalem still open to diplomatic path to resolve crisis.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel has made no decision regarding airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israel’s foreign minister said over the weekend, denying reports that Jerusalem has resolved to strike Iran’s nuclear program as early as next month.

Speaking to the UK newspaper The Telegraph in an interview published on Saturday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope) appeared to push back against claims last week that Israel had settled on a plan to strike Iran, possibly in May, and that President Donald Trump rejected Israeli overtures for the US to take part.

Last Wednesday, The New York Times newspaper published a report claiming that Israel’s government had backed a plan to hit Iranian nuclear facilities sometime in the coming weeks, most likely in May, with Trump pushing instead for the nuclear talks with Iran, being conducted in Oman, to run their course.

“I am a member of the security cabinet, and all the intimate forums, and I don’t remember such a decision,” Sa’ar said, adding that while Israel is committed to ensuring Iran never acquires nuclear weapons, Jerusalem still believes negotiations can resolve the issue.

Read  Trump says no to joint US-Israeli strike on Iran, prefers deal: report

“I don’t think that such a decision was taken. But Israel is committed to the objective of preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons. If that objective can be achieved by a diplomatic path, it is accepted,”  said the  FM.

Nevertheless, Sa’ar warned against any potential “partial agreements” between the Trump administration and Iran, saying that Tehran has in the past failed to live up to its obligations.

Turning to Trump’s Gaza resettlement plan, which calls for the voluntary mass relocation of the coastal enclave’s population of roughly two million people, Sa’ar hinted that a number of countries are prepared to take in large numbers of refugees.

“I don’t want to reveal [which ones] ahead of time, but there are countries I believe will be ready to do so. There are countries that are doing it already, now in very low numbers, and there are countries willing to do that in bigger numbers.”

In recent weeks, thousands of Gazans have departed the Gaza Strip via Israel, travelling through Rimon Airport in the south or the Allenby Crossing into Jordan, to third-party countries.

However, the rate of departures has been limited by conditions imposed by the host countries, which have thus far limited migration to injured Gazans, Gazans who already hold citizenship in the host country or have relatives there to petition for residency, or a small number permitted into Indonesia as part of a pilot program.