Monday, February 15, 2010

Netanyahu to Medvedev: 'Sanctions with teeth' needed against Iran

(Haaretz).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday made good on his promise to try to pressure Moscow to join international efforts to impose harsher sanctions against Iran over its contentious nuclear program.

During talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow on Monday, Netanyahu stressed that Iran's nuclear ambitions must be halted before it could succeed in developing an atomic bomb.

Netanyahu asked the Russian leader to back "sanctions with teeth" targeting Iran's energy sector, said an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to a member of Netanyahu's entourage, the prime minister proposed a number of sanctions, including blocking Iran from receiving fuel imports.