09/02/2010 On a day Iran is making another step in its nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on the international community to act quickly. "Iran is pushing forwards with its nuclear arming race while slighting the wishes of the international community which needs to protect peace and impose sanctions on Iran. Not partial and moderate sanctions. The duty is to impose paralyzing sanctions on Iran now," Netanyahu said Tuesday while addressing ambassadors of European Union countries.
 
The Israeli prime minister also added, "In recent days leaders of the Iranian brutal regime have called for the annihilation of the State of Israel. Israel expects any responsible government in the world, certainly your own governments, to harshly condemn these statements. But it takes more than words."
 
Tehran announced on Tuesday that it has started producing uranium enriched to a level of 20% for a reactor making medical isotopes. "We started preparatory work at 9:30 am in the presence of (International Atomic Energy Agency) representatives," a spokesman for Iran's nuclear energy agency, Ali Shirzadian said.
 
Elements in Washington, which have already noted that new sanctions were inevitable, said that they will ask the UN's Security Council to approve a decision which will lay the foundations for an additional round of sanctions within "weeks and not months".



Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters Tuesday that Gates "clearly thinks time is of the essence." However, China, whose support is crucial has announced that it still believed in diplomacy.
 
Moreover, s senior Israeli minister called for the international community to adopt tough sanctions against Iran. "The coming month is decisive," Silvan Shalom, vice premier, told public radio. "It is time the international community imposes tough sanctions against Iran, even if Russia and China do not go along."
 
He was referring to two of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, who have previously expressed opposition to Iran sanctions.
 
On Monday, however, Moscow suggested that a new set of sanctions could be discussed following Iran's announcement that it was stepping up its uranium enrichment.
 
Iran on Tuesday began enriching uranium to 20 percent purity level in defiance of world powers but under the supervision of UN nuclear inspectors, according to Iranian state media. "The international community must decide if it will continue to harbor illusions on the so-called Iranian cooperation or if it will impose real sanctions against Iran and its nuclear program," said Shalom.
 
Israeli ministers have repeatedly called for new sanctions against the Islamic republic.
 
Israel along with the West suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear program, a charge Tehran denies stressing it is its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) while Israel, which is believed to be the sole nuclear power in the Middle East with more than 200 nuclear heads, is not a signatory for this treaty.