Senior MP: Iran-West ties worrying Israel

A prominent Iranian MP said the likely improvement of of Iran's relations with the western countries under President Hassan Rouhani has become a source of worry for Israel. “The Zionist regime is anxious about the improvement of Iran-West relations,” member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Saleh Jokar said on Monday. The Iranian lawmaker pointed to the recent statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Iran, and said Israel is trying to prevent Iran’s interactions with the other countries on the international scene. After hectic moves in the West, and even in the US Congress, for intensification of diplomacy with Iran following Hassan Rouhani's win in the June presidential election, Netanyahu said that only the government has changed in Iran and not its objectives. He noted that the West has reduced its support for Israel and that is why Tel Aviv is constantly trying to make the West doubtful about Iran’s nuclear activities. Earlier this year, member of the Iranian Parliament's Presiding Board Hossein Sobhaninia lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for repeating his war rhetoric on Iran, and reiterated that nothing can stop Tehran from pursuing its peaceful nuclear program. The Iranian legislator noted that Netanyahu is just repeating his war rhetoric on Iran, while such war threats can no way hinder Iran's continued uranium enrichment activities for research purposes. Sobhaninia said the Israeli prime minister cannot possibly force the US to get into a new war in the Middle East.