Israeli threats against Iran threaten stability in Middle East, Brazilian FM tells Peres

TEHRAN,Oct.16(MNA) – Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said that Israel’s threats of military action against Iran over its nuclear program are dangerous to the stability of the Middle East. Patriota made the remarks during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem (Beit-ul-Moqaddas) on Sunday, Peres’ office said in a statement, AFP reported. The statement quoted Patriota as telling Peres that “Brazil sees with great concern Israel’s threats to attack Iran,” and that “these threats and their potential future consequences are dangerous to the stability of the Middle East.” Peres told Patriota, “We expect Brazil to boycott future meetings with Ahmadinejad.” In 2010, Brazil’s then president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met Ahmadinejad and helped broker a nuclear trade-off under which Iran would deposit a significant part of its low-enriched uranium stocks in Turkey in return for nuclear fuel enriched to a level sufficient for medical use. Israel at the time criticized the deal as liable to “radically complicate” sanctions efforts against Iran. “When we met in 2010, I told former president Lula that it was a mistake to sit and talk with Ahmadinejad,” Peres told Patriota. “Do not be mistaken, Iran is developing nuclear weapons. The Iranian nuclear threat casts a heavy shadow over the whole region,” he stated. The Israeli president added, “All the options must be on the table, we would all prefer to solve the problem through negotiations or economic sanctions but if those methods fail the military option will remain and will be serious and credible.”