Israeli Prez on Iranian Prez: 'We'll Strike Him'

Peres: "We'll strike" Amadinejad if Obama's anti-nuclear efforts fail

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 13, 2009 3:16 AM CDT

(Newser) – Israel's new government continued its saber-rattling with Iran today, threatening to strike the country if President Obama's diplomatic overtures fail, the Jerusalem Post reports. Echoing the hardline rhetoric of new Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres issued a warning to Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "We'll strike him" if Obama can't soften the leader's stance, Peres said.

The Israeli leader stressed that his nation would not attack without America's consent. Speaking to an Israeli radio station, Peres added the arrest of a Hezbollah cell in Egypt last week was a blow to Ahmadinejad's power. He called for Ahmadinejad's Sunni and European enemies to form a united front against the Iranian leader and his nuclear ambitions.

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"We certainly cannot go it alone, without the US, and we definitely can't go against the US. This would be unnecessary," Peres said. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israel's President Shimon Peres has warned that Israel will strike Iran if peaceful efforts to persuade to abandon nuclear plans fail. (AP Photo/Ronen Zvulun, pool)

Iranian technicians are seen at a new facility producing uranium fuel for a planned heavy-water nuclear reactor, 255 miles south of Tehran, Thursday, April 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks during a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday Feb, 10, 2009. (AP photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

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Ahmadinejad recruits forces against us, but there are also forces against him. - Israeli President Shimon Peres

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Israeli Prez on Iranian Prez: 'We'll Strike Him'