Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said the Jewish state reserved the right to act to stop Iran's nuclear program during a state visit to Moscow on Thursday.
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After meeting with his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Lapid said during a joint press conference that "a nuclear Iran will lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."
As such, he called for a strong, clear message to be sent to the Islamic Republic.
"Iran's march towards a nuclear weapon is not only an Israeli problem; it's a problem for the entire world," he said.
The two foreign ministers also discussed Israel's attacks on Iranian targets inside Syria.
Lavrov said Russia opposed the exploitation of Syrian territory for attacks against Israel or any other country. He noted Russian and Israeli military officers were engaged in a daily, ongoing security dialogue on Syria, adding that such coordination had proven efficient.
Meanwhile, US State Department Spokesman Ned Price said Washington continues to believe the Iran nuclear deal is "the most effective means to ensure that Iran is once again permanently and verifiably prevented from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"The United States would like to see a resumption of indirect negotiations in Vienna as soon as possible," he said Thursday.
"In fact," Price noted, US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley "has been on travel this week. He traveled to Moscow, where he held what he described as good and productive discussions with his Russian counterpart."
Yet Price cautioned "the advantages that the JCPOA [the Iran nuclear deal] conveyed will continue to be eroded the longer this goes on. We have seen – continue to see concerning reports from the IAEA when it comes to nuclear safeguards, when it comes to Iran's compliance with the NPT [nuclear non-proliferation treaty]. And we are cognizant that as Iran puts to use the more sophisticated technology, as Iran garners knowledge from the nuclear program that it is currently administrating that is not in compliance with the JCPOA, that will dull the original advantages that the JCPOA brought forth in 2015 and the ensuing years.
"So this process cannot go on indefinitely," he said.
"We are not at the point of abandonment yet," Price said. "We continue to believe a mutual return to compliance is within the realm of the possible, and it is something that we will continue to pursue as long as it is in our interest to do so," he said.
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