(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday evening (22 October 2013) with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

He said at the start of their meeting that while Iran says it wants a deal in which it will have civilian nuclear energy, this is not the real issue. He noted that many countries in Europe, North America and Asia have nuclear energy with neither centrifuges nor plutonium and added that Iran is insisting on centrifuges and plutonium in order to be able to produce enough materials for a nuclear bomb. The Prime Minister asserted that this is the reason why the UN Security Council has passed many resolutions, including that of 2010, which called on Iran to dismantle the centrifuges and halt the production of plutonium.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that if Iran retains these capabilities it will be able to advance quickly toward the production of bombs. He pointed out that the Iranians can move directly from enrichment at the low level of 3.5% to a level of 90% without the need for an interim level of 20% and added that they must not be allowed to do so. He declared that our aspiration for peace is liable to be severely affected if Iran succeeds in its aspiration. At this point in time, the Prime Minister said, when Iran is close to the economic breaking point, it would be tragic if it succeeded in evading the sanctions. He concluded that we must make certain that Iran will not have nuclear weapons capabilities and added that we can do so by peaceful means.