President Shimon Peres called Iran a spoiled, morally corrupt country and said the world should attack its moral stance, in an interview with CNN aired Monday night.
Instead of immediately moving toward a military attack on Iran, the president said, "I would rather see tighter economic sanctions [and] closer political pressure."
What is very much lacking, he added, is an attack on Iran’s moral foundations "because Iran is a spoiled country. It is morally corrupt."
The Islamic Republic, he explained, is "the only country that threatens to destroy another country, openly."
Israel, the president told CNN, is part of the international family of responsible countries and doesn’t want to resolve the Iranian problem by itself. "Israel will first of all see what the world is doing," he continued.
Jerusalem expects world leaders, who make promises regarding the Iranian problem to fulfill those promises, he said.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni also called on the international community to stand together, in an op-ed published Tuesday in The Times of London. She urged the West to make clear to Iran that all options are on the table in its determination to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Iranian regime, she wrote, "with its genocidal rhetoric and its growing military might, is not just a threat to the stability of our region. Its intentions run counter to the interests of the free world" and its policies are an affront to the values of the free world."
Livni also accused Iran of being an impediment to the quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, saying that through its support for Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria, "Iran empowers the opponents of peace and weakens the hand of moderates."