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Iran’s leadership ‘rational’ about nuclear weapons, says Israel’s military chief

Israeli military chief: Iran will not decide to make nuclear weapons Guardian UK   by Saeed Kamali Dehghan 25 April 2012 Benny Gantz has told Israeli daily Haaretz that the Iranian leadership is composed of very rational people 

Israel‘s military chief, Benny Gantz, has stated he doesn’t believe Iran will decide to make nuclear weapons and that Iranian key decision makers are rational.

Speaking to the Israeli daily, Haaretz, Gantz said: “[Iran] is going step by step to the place where it will be able to decide whether to manufacture a nuclear bomb. It hasn’t yet decided whether to go the extra mile.”

The chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces said the decision to develop nuclear weapons is only in the hands of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“If the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wants, he will advance it to the acquisition of a nuclear bomb, but the decision must first be taken. It will happen if Khamenei judges that he is invulnerable to a [military] response,” he said in the interview published on Wednesday.

“I believe he would be making an enormous mistake, and I don’t think he will want to go the extra mile.”….

This month, Iran and world’s major power resumed nuclear talks in Istanbul after 15 months of break in negotiations. Both sides expressed optimism after Istanbul talks and agreed to meet for a second round of negotiations in Baghdad late May.

Excessive focus on Iran’s nuclear programme by the international community has been criticised by an Iranian activist who believes it will cast a shadow on violations of human rights in the country. Iran’s Nobel Peace prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, pressed western politicians this weeknot to forget human rights and democracy in their talks with Tehran leaders.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iran-blog/2012/apr/25/israel-benny-gantz-iran-unlikely-develop-nuclear-weapons

May 7, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, Israel, politics international