Iran Nuclear Watch: Israeli Prime Minister Olmert – “The Test of Our Time”

Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks to a joint session of Congress, May 24, 2006.

Reuters: Olmert urges action to head off nuclear Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday Iran’s nuclear ambitions posed “the test of our time” and urged swift international action to meet what he termed a threat to the existence of the Jewish state.

“A nuclear Iran means a terrorist state could achieve the primary mission for which terrorists live and die: the mass destruction of innocent human life,” Olmert said in a warmly received address to both chambers of Congress.

“This challenge, which I believe is the test of our time, is one the West cannot afford to fail,” he said, estimating that Iran “stands on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons.”

In the meantime, there are FOOLS who continue to press engagement with Iran.

Olmert, on his first U.S. visit since taking office after Ariel Sharon’s incapacitating stroke in January, said Iran had declared the United States its enemy and noted that its president had called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

“For us, this is an existential threat. A threat to which we cannot consent. But its not Israel’s threat alone. It is a threat to all those committed to stability in the Middle East and the well-being of the world at large,” he said.

“History will judge our generation by the actions we take now … the international community will be measured not by its intentions but by its results,” he said, cautioning that “another dark and gathering storm” was casting its shadow over the world.

Iran insists it wants only to produce energy for civilian use, but Western powers argue it is using a civilian nuclear program as a cover for producing the highly enriched uranium needed for atomic bombs.

World powers met in London on Wednesday to discuss a package of incentives and threats aimed at defusing the Iranian crisis. It was unclear whether the talks would resolve serious differences between Washington and Moscow over U.S. demands Iran face sanctions.

The ‘POINT OF NO RETURN’ approaches.

Stay tuned……